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PO 



WHEN BUFFALO RAN 



OTHER BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR 

Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk Tales 
Blackfoot Lodge Tales 
The Story of the Indian 
The Indians of Today 
The Fighting Cheyennes 




P E O P L K LOOKING FROM T II 1-: LODGES 



WHEN BUFFALO RAN 

BY GEORGE BIRD G RI NNELL 



NEW HAVEN : YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS : 1920 
LONDON : HUMPHREY MILFORD . OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 






Copyright, 1920, hy 
Yale University Press. 

First published, 1920. 



-1 1920 



g)CI.A60l;:!50 



Table of Contents. 

Introduction: The Plains Country .... 9 

The Attack on the Camp 11 

Standing Alone 19 

The Way to Live . . .• 25 

Lessons of the Prairie 31 

On a Buffalo Horse 41 

In the Medicine Circle 53 

Among Enemy Lodges 61 

A Grown Man 73 

A Sacrifice 79 

A Warrior Ready to Die 87 

A Lie That Came True 97 

jNIy Marriage 109 



List of Illustrations. 
People Looking from the Lodges . . . Frontispiece 

Facing page 

Hunting in the Brush along the River ... 16 

My Grandmother Lived in Our Lodge ... 20 
My Grandfather . . . Long before Had Given 

up the Warpath 28 ' 

I Killed Many Buffalo and My Mother Dressed 

the Hides 48 

Holding the Pipe to the Sky and to the Earth . 56 

"Do Not Go, Wait a Little Longer" .... 80 

Watch the Men and Older Boys Playing at Sticks 104 



The Plains Country. 



Seventy years ago, when some of the events here re- 
counted took place, Indians were Indians, and the plains 
were the plains indeed. 

Those plains stretched out in limitless rolling swells 
of prairie until they met the blue sky that on every hand 
bent down to touch them. In spring brightly green, and 
spangled with wild flowers, by midsummer this prairie 
had grown sere and yellow. Clumjjs of dark green cot- 
tonwoods marked the courses of the infrequent streams 
— for most of the year the only note of color in the land- 
scape, except the brilliant sky. On the wide, level river 
bottoms, sheltered by the enclosing hills, the Indians 
pitched their conical skin lodges and lived their simple 
lives. If the camp were large the lodges stood in a wide 
circle, but if only a few families were together, they were 
scattered along the stream. 

In the spring and early summer the rivers, swollen by 
the melting snows, were often deep and rapid, but a little 
later they shrank to a few narrow trickles running over 
a bed of sand, and sometimes the water sank wholly out 
of sight. 

The animals of the prairie and the roots and berries 
that grew in the bottoms and on the uplands gave the 
people their chief sustenance. 

In such surroundings the boy Wikis was born and 

9 



When Buffalo Ran. 
grew up. The people that he knew well were those of his 
own camp. Once a year perhaps, for a few weeks, he saw 
the larger population of a great camp, but for the most 
part half a dozen families of the tribe, with the buffalo, 
the deer, the wolves, and the smaller animals and birds, 
were the companions with whom he lived and from whom 
he learned life's lessons. 

The incidents of this simple story are true. 

The life of those days and the teachings received by 
the boy or the girl who was to take part in it have passed 
away and will not return. 



10 



The Attack on the Camp. 



It is the first thing that I can recollect, and comes back 
to me now dimly — only as a dream. jNIy mother used to 
tell me of it, and often to laugh at me. She said I was 
then about five or six years old. 

I must have been playing with other little boys near 
the lodge, and the first thing that I remember is seeing 
people running to and fro, men jumping on their horses, 
and women gathering up their children. I remember 
how the men called to each other, and that some were 
shouting the war cry ; and then that they all rode away in 
the same direction. My mother rushed out and caught 
me by the hand, and began to pull me toward the lodge, 
and then she stopped and in a shrill, sweet voice began to 
sing; and other women that were running about stopped 
too, and began to sing songs to encourage their husbands 
and brothers and sons to fight bravely ; for enemies were 
attacking the camp. 

I did not understand it at all, but I was excited and 
glad to hear the noise, and to see people rushing about. 
Soon I could hear shooting at a distance. Then pres- 
ently I saw the men come riding back toward the camp ; 
and saw the enemy following them down toward the 
lodges, and that there were mam^ of these strangers, 
while our people were only a few. But still my people 
kept stopping and turning and fighting. Now the noise 

11 



When Buffalo Ran. 
was louder. The women sang their strong heart songs 
more shrilly, and I could hear more plainly the whoops 
of men, and the blowing of war whistles, and the reports 
of guns. 

Presently one of our men fell off his horse. The enemy 
charged forward in a body to touch him, and our few 
men rushed to meet them, to keep them from striking 
the fallen one, and from taking the head. And now the 
women began to be frightened, and some of them ran 
away. INIy mother rushed to the lodge, caught up my 
little sister, and threw her on her back, and holding me 
by the hand, ran toward the river. By this time I was 
afraid, and I ran as hard as I could; but my legs were 
short and I could not keep up, even though my mother 
had a load on her back. Nevertheless, she pulled me 
along. Every little while I stumbled and lost my feet ; but 
she dragged me on, and as she lifted me up, I caught my 
feet again, and ran on. 

Before long I began to tire, and I remember that I 
wanted to stop. In after years mother used to laugh at 
me about this, and say that I had asked her to throw 
away my sister, and to put me on her back and carry me 
instead. She used to say, too, that if she had been obliged 
to throw away either child I should have been the one 
left behind, for as I was a boy, and would grow up to be 
a warrior, and to fight the enemies of our tribe, I might 
very likely be killed anyway, and it might as well be ear- 
lier as later. 

When we reached the river, my mother threw herself 

12 



The Attack on the Camp. 
into it. Usually it was not more than knee-deep, but at 
this time the water was high from the spring floods, and 
my mother had to swim, holding my sister on her back, 
and at the same time supporting me, for though I could 
swim a little, I was not strong enough to breast the cur- 
rent, and without help would have been carried away. 

After we had crossed the river and come out on the 
other side, we looked back toward the village, and could 
see that the enemy were retreating. They might easily 
have killed or driven off the few warriors of our small 
camp, but not far from us there was a larger camp of 
our people, and when they heard the shooting and the 
shouting, they came rushing to help us; and when the 
enemy saw them coming, they began to yield and then 
to run away. Our warriors followed and killed some of 
them ; but the most of them got away after having killed 
four warriors of our camp, whose hard fighting and death 
had perhaps saved the little village. 

After the enemy had retreated, my mother crossed the 
river again, being helped over hy a man who was on the 
side opposite the camp, and who let us ride his horse, 
while he held its tail and swam behind it. 

In the village that night there was mourning for those 
who had lost their lives to save their friends. Their rela- 
tions cried very pitifully over the dead; and early the 
next day their bodies were carried to the top of a hill 
near the village, and buried there. 

After the mourning for the dead was ended, the peo- 
ple had dances over the scalps that had been taken from 

13 



When Buffalo Ran. 
the enemy, rejoicing over the victory. Men and women 
blackened their faces, and danced in a circle about the 
scalps, held on poles; and old men and old women 
shouted the names of those men who had been the bravest 
in the fight. We little boys looked on and sang and 
danced by ourselves away from the circle. 

It was soon after this that my uncle made me a bow 
and some blunt-headed arrows, with which he told me I 
should hunt little birds, and should learn to kill food, to 
help support my mother and sisters, as a man ought to 
do. With these arrows I used to practice shooting, try- 
ing to see how far I could shoot, how near I could send 
the arrow to the mark I shot at; and afterwards, as I 
grew a little older, hunting in the brush along the river, 
or on the prairie not far from the camp with the other 
little boys. We hunted the blackbirds, or the larks, or 
the buffalo birds that fed among the horses' feet, or the 
other small birds that lived among the bushes and trees 
in the bottom. If I killed a little bird, as sometimes I did, 
my mother cooked it and we ate it. 

This was a happy time for me. We little boys played 
together all the time. Sometimes the older boys allowed 
us to go with them, when they went far from the village, 
to hunt rabbits, and when they did this, sometimes they 
told us to carry back the rabbits that they had killed ; and 
I remember that once I came back with the heads of three 
rabbits tucked under my belt, killed by my cousin, who 
was older than I. Then we used to go out and watch the 
men and older boys playing at sticks ; and we had little 

14 



The Attack on the Camp. 
sticks of our own, and our older brothers and cousins 
made us wheels; and we, too, played the stick game 
among ourselves, rolling the wheel and chasing it as 
hard as we could; but, for the most part, we threw our 
sticks at marks, trj^ing to learn how to throw them well, 
and how to slide them far over the ground. 

I remember another thing — a sad thing — that hap- 
pened w^hen I was a very little boy. 

It was winter ; the snow lay deep on the ground ; a few 
lodges of people were camped in some timber among the 
foothills; buffalo were close, and game was plenty; the 
camp was living well. With the others I played about the 
camp, spinning tops on the ice, sliding down hill on a bit 
of parfleche, or on a sled made of buffalo ribs, and some- 
times hunting little birds in the brush. All this I know 
about from having heard my mother tell of it; it is 
not in my memory. This is what I remember: One day, 
with one of my friends, I had gone a little way from the 
camp, and down the stream. A few days before there had 
been a heavy fall of snow, and after that some warm 
days, so that the top of the snow had melted. Then had 
come a hard cold, which had frozen it, so that on the snow 
there was a crust over which we could easily run. 

As we were playing we went around the point of a hill, 
and suddenly, close to us, saw a big bull. He seemed to 
have come from the other side of the river, and was plow- 
ing his way through the deep snow, which came halfway 
up to the top of his hump. When we saw the bull we were 
a little frightened; but as we watched him we saw that 

15 



When Buffalo Ran. 
he could hardly move, and that after he had made 
a jump or two he stood still for a long time, puffing and 
blowing, before he tried to go further. As we watched 
him he came to a low place in the prairie, and here he 
sank still deeper in the snow, so that part of his head 
was hidden, and only his hump showed above it. My 
friend said to me, "Let us go up to this bull, and shoot 
him with our arrows." We began to go toward him 
slowly, and he did not see us until we had come quite 
close to him, when he turned and tried to runr but the 
snow was so deep that he could not go at all ; on each side 
it rose up, and rolled over, away from him, as the water 
is pushed away and swells out on either side before a 
duck that is swimming. My friend was very brave, and 
he said to me, "I am going to shoot that bull, and count 
a coup on him" ; and he ran up close to the bull, and shot 
his blunt-headed arrow against him, and then turned off. 
The bull tried hard to go faster, but the snow was too 
deep ; and when I saw that he could not move, I, too, ran 
up close to him, and shot my arrow at him, and the ar- 
row bounded off and fell on the snow. Again my friend 
did this, and then I did it; and each time the bull was 
frightened and struggled to get away : but the last time 
my friend did it the bull had reached higher ground, 
where the snow was not so deep, and he had more free- 
dom. My friend shot his arrow into him, and I was fol- 
lowing not far behind, expecting to shoot mine ; but when 
the bull felt the blow of the last arrow, he turned toward 
my friend and made a quick rush; the snow was less 

16 




HUNTING IN THE BRUSH ALONG THE HIVI'.U 



The Attack on the Camp. 
deep; he went faster; my little friend slipped, and the 
bull caught him with his horns and threw him far. INIy 
friend fell close to me, and where he fell the snow was 
red with his blood, for the great horn had caught him 
just above the waist, and had ripped his body open 
nearly to the throat. 

I went up to him in a moment, and, catching him, 
pulled him over the smooth crust, far from the bull ; but 
when I stopped and looked at him, he was still, his eyes 
were dull, and he did not breathe ; he was dead. 

I did not know what to do. I had lost my friend, and 
I cried hard. Also, I wished to be revenged on the bull 
for what he had done ; but I did not wish to be killed. I 
covered my friend with my robe, and started running 
fast to the camp, where I told my mother what had hap- 
pened. Soon all the men in the camp, and some of the 
women, had started with me, back to where the bull was. 
]My friend's relations were wailing and mourning, as 
they came along, and soon we reached his body, and his 
relations carried him back to the camp. Two of the men 
went to where the bull stood in the snow and killed him ; 
and after he was dead I struck him with my bow. 



17 



Standing Alone, 



Always as winter drew near, the camps came closer 
together, and the people began to make ready to start 
off on the hunt for buffalo. By this time food was scarce, 
and the people needed new robes ; and now that the cold 
weather was at hand, the hair of the buffalo was long 
and shaggy, so that the robes would be soft and warm, 
to keep out the winter cold. 

I remember that before the tribe started there used 
to be a great ceremony, but I was too young to under- 
stand what it all meant, though with the others I watched 
what the old men did, and wondered at it, for it seemed 
very solemn. There was a big circle about which the peo- 
ple stood or sat, and in the middle of the circle there were 
buffalo heads on the ground, and before them stood old 
men, who prayed and offered sacrifices, and passed their 
weapons and their sacred implements over the skulls, 
and then peoj^le danced; and not long after this the 
women loaded their lodges and their baggage on the 
horses, and put their little children into the cages on the 
travois, or piled them on the loaded pack horses; and 
then presently, in a long line, the village started off over 
the prairie, to look for buffalo. 

INIost of the way I walked or ran, playing with the 
other little boys, or looking through the ravines to try 
and find small birds, or a rabbit, or a prairie chicken. 

19 



When Buffalo Ran. 
Sometimes I rode a colt, too young yet to carry a load, 
or to be ridden by an older person, yet gentle enough to 
carry me. In this way I learned to ride. 

When buffalo were found, the young men killed them, 
and then the whole camp, women and children, went out 
to where the buffalo lay, and meat and hides were 
brought in to the camp, where the women made robes, 
and dried meat. Food was plenty, and everybody was 
glad. 

My grandmother lived in our lodge. She was an old 
woman with gray hair, and was always working hard. 
Whenever there were skins in the lodge she worked at 
them until they were tanned and ready for use. Often 
she used to talk to me, telling me about the old times; 
how our tribe used to fight with its enemies, and conquer 
them, and kill them ; and how brave the men always were. 
She used to tell me that of all things that a man could do, 
the best thing was to be brave. She would say to me: 
"Your father was a brave man, killed by his enemies 
when he was fighting. Your grandfather, too, was brave, 
and counted many coups ; he was a chief, and is looked up 
to by everyone. Your other grandfather was killed in a 
battle when he was a young man. The people that you 
have for relations have never been afraid, and you must 
not be afraid either. You must always do your best, be- 
cause you have many relations who have been braves, and 
chiefs. You have no father to tell you how you ought to 
live, so now your other relations must try to help j^ou 
as much as they can, and advise you what to do." 

20 



Standing Alone. 

She used to tell me of the ancient times, and of things 
that happened then, of persons who had strong spiritual 
power, and did wonderful things, and of certain bad per- 
sons and animals, who harmed people, and of the old 
times before the people had bows, when they did not kill 
animals for food, but lived on roots and berries. She told 
me that I must remember all these things, and keep them 
in my mind. 

Sometimes my grandmother had hard pains in her 
legs, and it hurt her to walk, and when she had these 
pains she could not go about much, and could not work. 
When this happened, sometimes she used to ask me to 
go down to the stream and fetch her a skin of water ; and 
I would whine, and say to her, "Grandmother, I do not 
want to carry water; men do not carry water." Then she 
would tell us some story about the bad things that had 
happened to boys who refused to carry water for their 
grandmothers ; and when I was little these stories fright- 
ened me, and I would go for the water. So perhaps I 
helped her a little in some things after she was old. Yet 
she lived until I was a grown man; and so long as she 
lived she worked hard ; except when she had these pains. 

Sometimes my mother and some of her relations would 
go off and camp together for a long time ; and then per- 
haps they would join a larger camp, and stay with them 
for a while. In these larger camps we children had much 
fun, playing our different games. We had many of tliese. 
Some, like those I have spoken of, we played in winter, 
and some we played in summer. Often the little girls 

21 



When Buffalo Ran. 
caught some of the dogs, and harnessed them to little 
travois, and took their baby brothers and sisters, and 
others of the younger children, and moved off a little 
way from the camp, and there pitched their little lodges. 
The boys went too, and we all played at living in camp. 
In these camps we did the things that older people do. 
A boy and girl pretended to be husband and wife, and 
lived in the lodge ; the girl cooked and the boy went out 
hunting. Sometimes some of the boys pretended that 
they were buffalo, and showed themselves on the prairie a 
little way off, and other boys were hunters, and went out 
to chase the buffalo. We were too little to have horses, 
but the boys rode sticks, which they held between their 
legs, and lashed with their quirts to make them go faster. 
Among those who played in this way was a girl smaller 
than I, the daughter of Two Bulls — a brave man, a 
friend to my uncle. The little girl's name was Standing 
Alone; she was pretty and nice, and always pleasant; 
but she was always busy about something — always work- 
ing hard, and when she and I played at being husband 
and wife, she was always going for wood, or pretending 
to dress hides. I liked her, and she liked me, and in these 
play camps we always had our little lodge together ; but 
if I sat in the lodge, and pretended to be resting longer 
than she thought right, she used to scold me, and tell me 
to go out and hunt for food, saying that no lazy man 
could be her husband. When she said this I did not an- 
swer and seemed to j^ay no attention to her words, but 
sat for a little while, thinking, and then I went out of the 

22 



Standing Alone. 
lodge, and did as she said. AVhen I came in again, 
whether I brought anything or not, she was always 
pleasant. 

Once, when we were running buffalo, one of the boys, 
who was a buffalo, charged me when I got near him, and 
struck me with the thorn which he carried on the end of 
his stick, and which we used to call the buffalo's horn. 
The thorn pierced me in the body, and, according to the 
law of our play, I was so badly wounded that I was 
obliged to die. I went a little way toward the village, 
and then pretended to be very weak. Then my compan- 
ions carried me into the camp, and to the lodge, and 
Standing Alone mourned over her husband who had been 
killed while hunting buffalo. Then one of the boys, who 
pretended that he was a medicine man, built a sweat 
lodge, and doctored me, and I recovered. 



23 



The Way to Live. 



I :\iusT have been ten years old when my uncle first be- 
gan to talk to me. Long before this, when he had made a 
bow and some arrows for me, he had told me that I must 
learn to hunt, so that in the time to come I would be able 
to kill food, and to support my mother and sisters. "We 
must all eat," he had said, "and the Creator has given us 
buffalo to support life. It is the part of a man to kill 
food for the lodge, and after it has been killed, the women 
bring in the meat, and prepare it to be eaten, while they 
dress the hides for robes and lodge skins." 

IMy uncle was a brave man, and was always going off 
on the warpath, searching for the camps of enemies, tak- 
ing their horses, and sometimes fighting bravely. He was 
still a young man, not married; but was quiet and of 
good sense and all the people respected him. Even the 
chiefs and older men used to listen to him when he spoke ; 
and sometimes he was asked to a feast to which many 
older men were invited. 

All my life I have tried to remember what he told me 
this first time that he talked with me, for it was good ad- 
vice, and came to me from a good man, who afterwards 
became one of the chiefs of the tribe. 

One day, soon after he had returned from one of his 
warpaths, he said to me, early in the morning: "jNIy son, 
get your bow and arrows, and you and I will go over into 

25 



When Buffalo Ran. 
the hills, hunting. We will try to kill some rabbits, and 
perhaps we may find a deer." 

I was glad to go with my uncle; no grown man had 
ever before asked me to go with him, and to have him 
speak to me like this made me feel glad and proud. I ran 
quicklj^ and got my bow, and we set out, walking over the 
prairie. We walked a long way, and I was beginning to 
get tired, when we came to a place where we started first 
one rabbit and then another, and then a third. I shot at 
one, but missed it; and my uncle killed all three. After 
this we went up to the top of a high hill, to look over the 
country. We saw nothing, but as we sat there my uncle 
spoke to me, telling me of the things that he had done not 
long before ; and after a time he began to tell me how I 
ought to live, and what I ought to do as I grew older. 

He said to me: "My son, I am going to tell you some 
things that will be useful to you; and if you listen to 
what I say, your life will be easier for you to live; you 
will not make mistakes, and you will come to be liked 
and respected by all the people. Before many years now 
you will be a man, and as you grow up you must try more 
and more to do the things that men do. There are a few 
things that a boy must always remember. 

"When older peo23le speak to you, you must stop what 
you are doing and listen to what they say, and must do 
as they tell you. If anyone says to you, 'My son, go out 
and drive in my horses,' you must go at once; do not 
wait; do not make anyone speak to you a second time; 
start at once. 

26 



The Way to Live, 

"You must get up early in the morning; do not let the 
sun, when it first shines, find you in bed. Get up at the 
first dawn of day, and go early out into the hills and look 
for your horses. These horses will soon be put in your 
charge, and you must watch over them, and must never 
lose them ; and you must always see that they have water. 

"You must take good care of your arms. Always keep 
them in good order. A man who has poor arms cannot 
fight. 

"It is important for you to do all these things. But 
there is one thing more important than anything else, 
and that is to be brave. Soon you will be going on a war- 
path, and then you must strive always to be in the front 
of the fighting, and to try hard to strike many of the 
enemy. You must be saying all the time to yourself, 'I 
will be brave; I will not fear anything.' If you do that, 
the people will all know of it, and will look on you as a 
man. 

"There is another thing: if by chance you should do 
anything that is great, you must not talk of it ; you must 
never go about telling of the great things that you have 
done, or that you intend to do. To do that is not manly. 
When you are at war you may do brave things, and other 
people will see what you have done, and will tell of it. If 
you should chance to perform any brave act, do not 
speak of it ; let your comrades do this ; it is not for you to 
tell of the things that you have done. 

"If you listen to my words you will become a good 
man, and will amount to something. If you let the wind 

27 



When Buffalo Ran. 
blow them away, you will become lazy, and will never 
do anything." 

So m}^ uncle talked to me for a long time, and just as 
he had finished his talking, we saw, down in the valley 
below us, a deer come out from behind some brush, and 
feed for a little while, and then it went back into another 
patch of brush, and did not come out again. 

"Ah," said my uncle, "I think we can kill that deer." 
We went around a long distance, to come down without 
being seen to where the deer was, and we had crept up 
close to the edge of the bushes before the deer knew that 
we were there. When we reached the place we walked 
around it, he on one side and I on the other; and pres- 
ently the deer sprang up out of the bushes, and my uncle 
shot it with his arrow ; and after it had run a distance it 
fell down, and when we got to it, was dead. I also shot 
at it with one of my sharp-pointed arrows, but I did not 
hit it. After we had cut up the meat of the deer, and made 
it into a pack, done up in the hide, we started back to the 
camp. I felt proud to have gone on a hunt with a man 
and to be carrying the rabbits. 

As we walked along to the camp that night, my uncle 
told me other things. He said: "Always be careful to do 
nothing bad in camp. Do not quarrel and fight with your 
fellows. Men do not fight with each other in the camp; 
to do that is not manly." 

You see, my uncle thouglit that I was now old enough 
to be taught some of the things a man ought to do, and 
he tried to help me ; for my father was dead, and I had no 

28 



The Way to Live. 
one else to teach me. The words he spoke were all good 
words, and I have tried always to remember them. 

The white people gather up their children and send 
them all to one place to be taught ; but that is not the way 
we Indians do. Nevertheless, we try to teach our chil- 
dren in our way ; for children must be taught, or they will 
not know anything, and if they do not know anything 
they will have no sense, and if they have no sense they 
will not know how to act. 

When our children are small, the mother tries to keep 
them from making a noise. It is not fitting that young 
children should disturb older people. I am telling you 
about the way I was taught in the old times, when there 
were but few white people in the country. 

Because we have no schools, like the white people, we 
have to teach our children by telling them what to do ; it 
is only in this way that they can learn. They have lived 
but a short time, and cannot know much. We older ones, 
after we have lived many years, and have listened to 
what our fathers and brothers have taught us, know a 
good many things ; but little children know nothing. We 
want them to be wise, so that they may live well with 
their people. But we want them to be wise also, so that 
when they are the chiefs and braves of the tribe they may 
rule the people well. We remember that before very 
long we ourselves shall no longer be here ; and tlien the 
ones who are caring for the people's welfare will be these 
children that now are j^laying about the camps. Their 
relations, therefore, talk to the children, for they want 

29 



When Buffalo Ran. 
their lives to be made easier for them; and they want 
also to have the next generation of people wise enough 
to help all the people to live. The men must hunt and go 
to war; the women must be good women, not foolish 
ones, and must be ready to work, and glad to take care 
of their husbands and their children. This is one of the 
reasons why we like to have them play at moving the 
camj), harnessing the old dogs to the travois, pitching 
the lodges, making clothing for the dolls ; while the boys 
play at hunting buffalo and at making war journeys 
against their enemies. All are trying to learn how to live 
the life that our people have always lived. 

My grandfather was an old man, who long before this 
had given up the warpath. He spent most of his time in 
the camp, and he used to make speeches to the little and 
big boys, and give them much good advice. Once I heard 
him talk to a group of boys playing near the lodge, and 
this is what he said: "Listen, you boys; it is time you did 
something. You sit here all day in the sun, and throw 
your arrows, and talk about things of the camp, but why 
do you not do something? When I was a boy it was not 
like this ; then we were always trying to steal off and fol- 
low a war party. Some of those who did so were too 
little to fight; but we used to follow along, and try to 
help. In this way, even though we did nothing, we learned 
the ways of warriors. I do not want you boys to be lazy. 
It is not a lazy man who does great things, so that he is 
talked about in the camp, and his name is called aloud 
by all the people, when the war party returns." 

30 



Lessons of the Prairie. 



Once when I was a little older, I was out on the hills 
one day, watching the horses. They were feeding quietly, 
and I lay on a hill and went to sleep. Suddenly I was 
awakened by a terrible crash close to my head, and I 
knew that a gun had been fired close to me, and I thought 
that the enemy had attacked me and were killing me, and 
would drive off the horses. I was badly frightened. I 
sprang to my feet, and started to run to my horse, and in 
doing this I ran away from the camp, but before I 
reached the horse I heard someone laughing, and when 
I looked around my uncle sat there on the ground, with 
the smoke still coming from his gun. He signed to me 
to come to him and sit down, and when I had done so, he 
said : 

"jNIy son, you keep a careless watch. You do not act 
as a man ought to do. Instead of sitting here looking over 
the prairie in all directions to see if enemies are ap- 
proaching, or if there are any signs of strange people be- 
ing near, you lie here and sleep. I crept up to you and 
fired my gun, to see what you would do. You did not 
stop to see where the noise came from, nor did you look 
about to see if enemies were here. You thought only of 
saving your body, and started to run away. This is not 
good. A warrior does not act like this; he is always 
watching all about him, to see what is going to happen, 

31 



When Buffalo Ran. 
and if he is attacked suddenly, he tries to fight, or, if he 
cannot fight, he thinks more of giving warning to the 
people than he does of saving himself." 

When my uncle spoke to me like this he made me feel 
bad, for of all people he was the one whom I most 
wished to please, and with him I wished to stand well. I 
considered a little before I said to him: "I was trying to 
run to my horse, and if I had got him I think I should 
have tried to reach the camp, and perhaj^s I should have 
tried to drive in some of the horses; but I was badly 
frightened, for I had been asleep and did not know what 
had happened." 

"I think you speak truly," said my uncle, "but you 
should not have gone to sleep when you were sent out 
here to watch the horses. Boys who go to sleep when they 
ought to be looking over the country, and watching their 
horses, or men who get tired and go to sleep when they 
are on the warpath, never do much. I should like to have 
)^ou always alert and watchful." 

I made up my mind that I would hold fast to the 
words which my uncle spoke to me, and after this would 
not sleep when I was on herd. 

It was not long after this that my uncle again told 
me to get my arrows, and come and hunt with him. He 
told me also to take my robe with me, and that we would 
go far up the river and be gone one night. I was glad to 
go, and we started. 

All through the day we traveled up stream, going 
in low places, and traveling cautiously; for, although we 

32 



Lessons of the Prairie. 
were close to the camp, still my uncle told me no one 
could be sure that enemies might not be about, and that 
we might not be attacked at any time ; so we went care- 
fully. If we had to cross a hill, we crept up to the top of 
it, and lifted our heads up little by little, and looked over 
all the countiy, to see whether people were in sight; or 
game; or to see what the animals might be doing. 

Once, when we stopped to rest, my uncle said to me : 
"Little son, this is one of the things you must learn; as 
you travel over the country, always go carefully, for you 
do not know that behind the next hill there may not be 
some enemy watching, looking over the country to see if 
someone may not be about. Therefore, it is well for you 
always to keep out of sight as much as you can. If you 
have to go to the top of the hill, because you wish to see 
the coimtry, creep carefully up some ravine, and show 
yourself as little as possible. If you have to cross a wide 
flat, cover yourself with your robe, and stoop over, walk- 
ing slowly, so that am^one far off may perhaps think it is 
a buffalo that he sees. In this respect the Indians are 
different from the white people; they are foolish, and 
when the}' travel they go on the ridges between the 
streams, because the road is level, and the going easy. But 
when they travel in this way everyone can see them from 
a long way off, and can hide in the path, and when they 
approach can shoot at them and kill them. The white 
people think that because they cannot see Indians, there 
are none about; and this belief has caused many white 
people to be killed." 

33 



When Buffalo Ran. 

As I walked behind my uncle, following him over the 
prairie, I tried to watch him, and to imitate everything 
that he did. If he stopped, I stopped; if he bent down 
his head, and went stooping for a little way, I also 
stooped, and followed him ; when he got down to creep, 
I, too, crept, so as to be out of sight. 

That day, as the sun fell toward the west, my uncle 
went down to the river, and looked along the bank and 
the mud-bars, trying to learn whether any animals had 
been to the water; and when he saw tracks he pointed 
them out to me. "This," he said, "is the track of a deer. 
You see that it has been going slowly. It is feeding, be- 
cause it does not go straight ahead, but goes now in one 
direction, and then in another, and back a little, not 
seeming to have any purpose in its wandering about, and 
here," showing me a place where a plant had been bitten 
off, "is where it was eating. If we follow along, soon we 
will see its tracks in the mud by the river." It was as he 
had said, and soon, in a little sand-bar, we saw the place 
where the animal had stopped. "You see," he said, "this 
was a big deer; here are his tracks; here he stopped at 
the edge of the water to drink; and then he went on 
across the river, for there are no tracks leading back to 
the bank. You will notice that he was walking; he was 
not frightened ; he did not see nor smell any enemies." 

Further up the river, on a sand-bar, he showed me the 
tracks of antelope, where the old ones had walked along 
quietly, and other smaller tracks, where the sand had 

34< 



Lessons of the Prairie. 
been thrown up; and these marks, he said, were made 
by the little kids, which were playing and running. 

"Notice carefully," he said, "the tracks that you see, 
so that you will remember them, and will know them 
again. The tracks made by the different animals are not 
all alike. The antelope's hoof is sharp-pointed in front. 
Notice, too, that when his foot sinks in the mud there is 
no mark behind his footprint; while behind the foot- 
print of a deer there are two marks, in soft ground, 
made by the little hoofs that the deer has on his foot." 

We kept on further up the river, and when night 
came we stopped, and sat down in some bushes. All day 
long we had seen nothing that we could kill ; but from a 
fold in his robe my uncle drew some dried meat, and we 
built a little fire of dried wdllow brush, that would make 
no smoke, and over this we roasted our meat, and ate; 
and my uncle talked to me again, saying: "My son, I 
like to have you come out w^ith me, and travel about over 
the countr}\ You have no father to teach you, and I am 
glad to take you w^ith me, and to tell you the things that 
I know. It is a good thing to be a member of our tribe, 
and it is a good thing to belong to a good family in that 
tribe. You must always remember that you come of 
good people. Your father was a brave man, killed fight- 
ing bravely against the enemy. I want you to grow up to 
be a brave man and a good man. You must love your re- 
lations, and must do everything that you can for them. If 
the enemy should attack the village, do not run away; 
think always first of defending your own people. You 

35 



When Buffalo Ran. 
have a mother, and sisters, who will depend on you for 
their living, and for their credit. They love you, and you 
must always try to do everything that you can for them. 
Try to learn about hunting, and to become a good 
hunter, so that you may support them. But, above all 
things, try to live bravely and well, so that people will 
speak well of you and your relations will be proud. 

"You are only a boy now, but the time will come when 
you will be a man, and must act a man's part. Now your 
relations all respect you. They do not ask you to do 
woman's work; they treat you well. You have a good 
bed, and whenever you are hungry, food is given you. ' 
Do you know why it is that you are treated in this way ? 
I will tell you. Your relations know that you are a man, 
and that you will grow up to go to war, and fight ; per- 
haps often to be in great danger. They know that per- 
haps they may not have you long with them; that soon 
you may be killed. Perhaps even to-night or to-morrow, 
before we get back to the camp, we may be attacked, and 
may have to fight, and perhaps to die. It is for this cause 
that you are treated better than your sisters ; because at 
any moment you may be taken away. This you should 
understand." 

After we had eaten it began to grow dark, and pretty 
soon my uncle stood up and tied up his waist again, and 
we set out once more, going up the river. I wanted to 
ask my imcle where we were going, but I knew that he 
had some reason for moving away from the camp, and 
before I had spoken to him about it we had gone a mile 

36 



Lessons of the Prairie. 
or two, and it was quite dark, and we stopped again in 
another clump of bushes. Here we sat down, and my 
uncle said to me: "My son, here we will sleep. Where we 
stopped and ate, just before the sun set, was a good 
place to camp, but it may be that an enemy was watch- 
ing from the top of some liill, and may have seen us go 
into those bushes. If he did, perhaps he will creep down 
there to-night, hoping to kill us ; and if there were sev- 
eral persons they may go down there and surround those 
bushes. I did not want to stop there where we might have 
been seen, and so when it grew dark we came on here. 
We will sleep here, but will build no fire." 

The next morning, before day broke, my uncle roused 
me, and we went to the top of a high hill not far off. We 
reached it before the sun rose, and lay on top of it, look- 
ing off over the prairie. From here we could see a long 
way. Many animals were in view, buffalo and antelope, 
and down in the river bottom a herd of elk. For a long 
time we lay there watching, but everywhere it was quiet. 
The animals were not moving; no smokes were seen in 
the air ; birds were not flying to and fro, as if waiting for 
the hunter to kill a buffalo, or for people to fight and 
kill each other, when they might feed on the flesh. 

After we had watched a long time, my uncle said: "I 
see no signs of peoj^le. Let us creep down this ravine, and 
get among the bushes, and perhaps we can kill one of 
these elk." We did as he had said; and before very long 
had come near to the elk. Then he told me to wait there. I 
stopped and for a few moments I could see him creeping 

37 



When Buffalo Ban. 
up nearer and nearer to the elk. Presently they started 
and ran ; and one cow turned off to cross the river, and as 
she was crossing it she fell in the water. 

My uncle stood up and motioned to me to go dov/n to 
where the elk lay. We met there and cut up the elk, and 
my uncle took a big load of meat on his back, and I a 
smaller load, and we started back toward the village. 

As we were returning, he spoke to me again, saying: 
"I want you to remember that of all the advice I give you 
the chief thing is to be brave. If you start out with a war 
party, to attack enemies, do not be afraid. If your friends 
are about to make a charge on the enemy, still do not be 
afraid. Watch your friends, and see how they act, and 
try to do as the others do. Try always to have a good 
horse, and to be in the front of the fighting. To be brave 
is what makes a man. If you are lucky, and count a coup, 
or kill an enemy, people will look on you as a man. Do 
not fear anything. To be killed in battle is no disgrace. 
When you fight, try to kill. Ride up close to your en- 
emy. Do not think that he is going to kill you ; think that 
you are going to kill him. As you charge, you must be 
saying to yourself all the time, 'I will be brave; I will 
not fear anything.' 

"In your life in the camp remember this too; you 
must alwaj^s be truthful and honest with all your people. 
Never say anything that is not true ; never tell a lie, even 
for a joke — to make people laugh. When you are in the 
company of older people, listen to what they say, and try 
to remember; thus you will learn. Do not say very much; 

38 



Lessons of the Prairie. 
it is just as well to let other people talk while you listen. 
If you have a friend, cling close to him ; and if need be, 
give your life for him. Think always of your friend be- 
fore j^ou think of yourself." 

That night we reached the camp again. My uncle left 
the meat that he had killed at my mother's lodge. 



39 



On a Buffalo Horse. 



I HAD lived twelve winters when I did something which 
made my mother and all my relations glad; for which 
they all praised me, and which first caused my name to 
be called aloud through the camp. 

It was the fall of the year, and the leaves were drop- 
ping from the trees. Long ago the grass had grown yel- 
low ; and now sometimes when we awoke in the morning 
it was white with frost ; little places in the river bottom, 
where water had stood in the springtime, and which were 
still wet, were frozen in the morning; and all the quiet 
waters had over them a thin skin of clear ice. Great 
flocks of water birds were passing overhead, flying to the 
south ; and many of them stopped in the streams, resting 
and feeding. There were ducks of many sorts, and the 
larger geese, and the great white birds with black tips to 
their wings, and long yellow bills; and the cranes that 
fly over, far uj) in the sky, looking like spots, but whose 
loud callings are heard plainly as they pass along. Often 
we saw flocks of these walking on the prairie, feeding on 
the grasshoppers ; and sometimes they all stopped feed- 
ing and stuck up their heads, and then began to dance 
together, almost as people dance. 

We boys used to travel far up and down the bottom, 
trying to creep up to the edge of the bank, or to the pud- 
dles of water, where the different birds sat, to get close 

41 



When Buffalo Ran. 
enough to kill them with our arrows. It was not easy to 
do this, for generally the birds saw us before we could 
get near enough; and then, often, even if we had the 
chance to shoot, we missed, and the birds flew away, and 
we had to wade out and get back our arrows. 

One day I had gone with my friend a long way up the 
river, and we had tried several times to kill ducks, but 
had always missed them. We had come to a place where 
the point of a hill ran down close to the river, on our side, 
and as we rounded the point of this hill, suddenly we saw 
close before us three cranes, standing on the hillside ; two 
of them were gray and further off, but one quite near to 
us was still red, by which we knew that it was a young 
one. I was ahead of my friend, and as soon as I saw the 
cranes I drew my arrow to its head, and shot at the young 
one, which spread its wings and flew a few yards, and 
then came down, lying on the hillside, with its wings 
stretched wide, for the arrow had passed through its 
body. I rushed upon it and seized it, while the old cranes 
flew away. Then I was glad, for this was the largest bird 
that I had ever killed ; and you know that the crane is a 
wise bird, and peo^Dle do not often kill one. 

After my friend and I had talked about it, I picked 
up the bird and put it on my back, holding the neck in 
one hand, and letting the legs drag on the ground behind 
me ; and so we returned to camp. When we reached the 
village some of the children saw us coming, and knew me, 
and ran ahead to my mother's lodge, and told her that her 
boy was coming, carrying a great bird ; and she and my 

42 



On a Buffalo Horse. 
sisters came out of the lodge and looked at me. I must 
have looked strange, for the crane's wings were partly 
spread, and hung down on either side of me ; and when I 
had nearly come to the lodge, my mother called out: 
"What is the great bird that is coming to our lodge? I 
am afraid of it," and then she and the children ran in 
the door. Then they came out again, and when I reached 
the lodge, all looked at the bird, and said how big it was, 
and how fine, and that it must be shown to my uncle be- 
fore it was cooked. They sent word to him, asking him to 
come to the lodge, and soon he did so, and when he saw 
what I had killed, he was glad, and told me that I had 
done well, and that I was lucky to have killed a crane. 
"There are many grown men," said he, "who have never 
killed a crane; and you have done well. I wish to have 
this known." 

He called out in a loud voice, and asked Bellowing 
Cow, a poor old woman, to come to the lodge and see 
what his son had done ; and he sent one of the boys back 
to his lodge, telling him to bring a certain horse. Soon 
the boy returned, leading a pony; and when Bellowing 
Cow had come, my uncle handed her the rope that was 
about the pony's neck, and told her to look at this bird 
that his son had killed. 

"We have had good luck," he said; "my son has killed 
this wise bird; he is going to be a good hunter, and will 
kill much meat. In the time to come, after he has grown 
to be a man, his lodge will never lack food. His women 
will always have plenty of robes to dress." 

43 



When Buffalo Ran. 

Then Bellowing Cow mounted her horse and rode 
around the village, singing a song, in which she told how 
lucky I had been; that I had killed a crane, a bird that 
many grown men had not killed ; and that I was going to 
be a good hunter, and always fortunate in killing food. 
My uncle did not give the bird to Bellowing Cow; he 
kept it, and told my mother to cook it ; and he said to 
her: "Save for me the wing bones of this bird, and give 
them to me, in order that I may make from them two 
war whistles, which my son may carry when he has 
grown old enough to go to war against his enemies." 

I was proud of what had happened, and it made me 
feel big to listen to this poor old woman as she rode 
through the village singing her song. 

What he did at this time showed some things about 
my uncle. It showed that he liked me; it showed that he 
was proud of what I had done ; and it showed, too, that 
he was a person of good heart, since he called to see what 
I had done a poor old woman who had nothing, and gave 
her a horse. It would have been as easy for him to have 
called some chief or rich man who had plenty of horses, 
and then sometime this chief or rich man would have 
given him a horse for some favor done him. 

I had killed the crane with a pointed arrow, of which 
I had three, though in my hunting for little birds I still 
used blimt arrows. My uncle had made me another bow, 
which was almost as large as a man's bow; and I was 
practicing with it always, trying to make my right arm 

44 



On a Buffalo Horse. 
strong, to bend it, so that it might send the arrow with 
full force. 

The next summer, when the tribe had started off to 
look for buffalo, I spoke one night to my uncle, as he was 
sitting alone in his lodge, and said to him: "Father, is it 
not now time for me to try to kill buffalo? I am getting 
now to be a big boy, and I think big enough to hunt. I 
should like to have your opinion about this." For a time 
he sat smoking and considering, and then he said: "Son, 
I think it is time you should begin to hunt ; you are now 
old enough to do some of the things that men do. I 
have watched you, and I have seen that you know how to 
use the bow. The next time that we run buffalo, you shall 
come with me, and we will see what we can do. You shall 
ride one of my buffalo horses, and you shall overtake the 
buffalo, and then we shall see w^hether you are strong 
enough to drive the arrow far into the animal." 

It was not long after this that buffalo were found, 
and when the tribe went out to make the surround, my 
uncle told me to ride one of his horses, and to keep close 
to him. As we were going toward the place where the 
surround was to be made, he said to me: "Now, to-day 
w^e will try to catch calves, and you shall see whether you 
can kill one. You may remember this, that if you shoot an 
arrow into the calf, and blood begins to come from its 
mouth, it will soon die, you need not shoot at it again, 
but may go on to overtake another, and kill it. Then, 
perhaps, after a little while you can chase big buffalo. 
One thing you must remember. If you are running 

45 



When Buffalo Ran. 
buffalo, do not be afraid of them. Ride your horse close 
up to the buffalo, as close as you can, and then let fly the 
arrow with all your force. If the buffalo turns to fight, 
your horse will take you away from it; but, above all 
things, do not be afraid ; you will not kill buffalo if you 
are afraid to get close to them." 

We rode on, and before the surround was made we 
could see the yellow calves bunched up at one side of the 
herd. My uncle pointed them out to me, and said, "Now, 
when the herd starts, try to get among those calves, and 
remember all that I have told you." 

At length the soldiers gave the word for the charge, 
and we all rushed toward the buffalo. They turned to 
run, and a great dust rose in the air. That day there were 
many men on fast horses, but my uncle's horse was 
faster than all ; and because I was little and light, he ran 
through the big buffalo, and was soon close to the calves. 
When he was running through the buffalo I was fright- 
ened, for they seemed so big, and they crowded so on 
each other, and their horns rattled as they knocked to- 
gether, as the herd parted and pushed away on either 
side, letting me pass through it. 

In onl}^ a short time I was running close to a yellow 
calf. It ran very fast, and for a little while I could not 
overtake it ; but then it seemed to go slower, and my horse 
drew up close to it. I shot an arrow and missed it, and 
then another, and did not miss ; the arrow went deep into 
it, just before the short ribs, and a moment afterward I 
could see blood coming from the calf's mouth ; and I ran 

46 



On a Buffalo Horse. 
on to get another. I did kill another, and then stopped 
and got down. The herd had passed, and I began to 
butcher the last calf; and before I had finished my uncle 
rode up to me and said, "Well, son, did you kill any- 
thing?" I told him that I had killed two calves; and we 
went back and looked for the other. Pie helped me to 
butcher, and we put the meat and skins of both calves on 
my horse and then returned to the camp. 

When we reached there, my uncle stood in front of the 
lodge, and called out with a loud voice, saying: "This 
day my son has chased buffalo, and has killed two calves. 
I have given one of my best horses to Red Fox." This 
he called out several times, and at the same time he sent 
a young man to his lodge, telling him to bring a certain 
good horse, which he named. Before very long the young 
man came with the horse, and about the same time the 
old man Red Fox, who was poor and lame, and without 
relations, was seen limping toward the lodge, coughing 
as he came. 

In his young days Red Fox had been a brave and had 

done many good things, but he had been shot in the thigh, 

in battle, and his leg had never healed, so that he could 

not go to war. After that, his wife and then his children 

one by one had died, or been killed in battle, and now he 

I had nothing of his own, but lived in the lodge with 

I friends — people who were kind to him. After Red Fox 

i had mounted his horse, and had ridden off about the cir- 

j' cle of the lodges, singing a song, in which he told wh-.it I 

1 had done, and how my uncle was proud of my success, 

} 47 



When Buffalo Ran. 
and of how good his heart was toward poor people, so 
that when he made gifts he gave them to persons who 
had nothing, and not to people who were rich and happy, 
my uncle turned about and went into the lodge. He told 
the young man who had brought the horse to go out 
and call a number of his friends, and older people, to 
come that night to his lodge, to feast with him. 

After they had come, and all had eaten, and while the 
pipe was being smoked, my uncle said: "Friends, I have 
called you to eat with me, because this day my son has 
killed two calves. He has done well, and I can see that 
he will be a good man. His lodge will not be poor for 
meat nor will his wife lack skins to tan, or hides for lodge 
skins. We have had good luck, and to-day my heart is 
glad; and it is for this reason that I have asked you to 
come and hear what my son has done, in order that you 
may be pleased, as I am pleased." 

When he had finished speaking. Double Runner, an 
old man, whose hair was white, stood up on his feet and 
spoke, and said that I had done well. He spoke good 
words of my luicle because he had a kind heart and was 
generous, and liked to make people happy. He spoke 
also of m}" father, and said that it v/as bad for the tribe 
when the enemy killed him; but, nevertheless, he had 
died fighting, as a brave man would wish to die. 

From that time on, so long as the buffalo were seen, 
I went out with the men of the camp. Sometimes I went 
alone, or with companions of my own age, and we tried to 
kill calves, but more than once I went with my uncle. 

48 



On a Buffalo Horse. 
The second time I rode with him he said to me that I had 
killed calves, and now I must try to kill big buffalo. I 
remembered what he had said about riding close to the 
buffalo, but I was afraid to do this, and yet I was 
ashamed to tell him that I was afraid. When the sur- 
round was made, my uncle and I were soon among the 
buffalo. I was riding my uncle's fast buffalo horse. INIy 
uncle rode on my right hand, and when we charged down 
and got among the buffalo we soon passed through the 
bulls and then drew up slowly on the cows, and those 
younger animals whose horns were yet straight. I 
thought we were going to pass on through these, and 
kill calves, but suddenly my uncle crowded his horse up 
close to me, and, pointing to a young bull, signed to me 
to shoot it. I did not want to, but my uncle kept crowding 
his horse more and more on me, and pushing me close 
to the bull. I was afraid of it ; I thought that perhaps it 
would turn its head toward me and frighten my horse, 
and my horse could not get away because of my uncle's 
horse, and then my horse, and perhaps I, myself, would 
be killed ; but there was not much time to think about it. 
I felt that I was not strong enough to kill a buffalo; I 
did not want to try ; but all the time my uncle was sign- 
ing to me, "Shoot, shoot." There was no way for me to 
escape, and I drew the arrow and shot into the buffalo. 
The point hit the animal between the ribs, and went in 
deep, yet not to the feathers. When I shot, my uncle 
sheered off, and I followed him ; and in a moment, look- 
ing back, I saw that the blood was coming from the bull's 

49 



When Buffalo Ran. 
nose and mouth ; and then I knew that I had killed it. In 
a few moments it fell, and I went back to it. Then truly 
I thought that I had done something great, and I felt 
glad that I had killed a big buffalo. I forgot that a little 
while before I had been frightened, and had wanted to 
get away without shooting. I forgot that, except for my 
uncle, I should not have made this lucky shot. I felt as 
if I had done something, and something that was very 
smart and great. You see, I was only a boy. 

This feeling did not last very long ; after a little I re- 
membered that except for my uncle I should have still 
been afraid of big buffalo, and should not have dared to 
go near enough to kill one, but should have been content 
to kill calves. My mind was still big for what I had done, 
and I felt thankful to my uncle for making me do it. I 
wanted to pass my hands over him — to express my grati- 
tude to him — for all his kindness to me. No father could 
have done more for me than he had done, and always did. 

That night when we came back to the camp my horse 
was carrying a great pile of meat ; and when I stopped 
in front of the lodge, I called out to my mother to come 
and take my horse, and take the meat from it ; for so my 
uncle had told me to do. "Now," he said, "you have be- 
come a man; you are able to hunt, and to kill food, and 
you must act as a man acts." 

When my mother came out of the lodge she was as- 
tonished ; she could hardly believe that it was I who had 
killed this buffalo. Nevertheless, she took the rope from 
me, and began to take the meat from the horse; and I 

50 



On a Buffalo Horse. 
went into the lodge and lay down on the bed by the fire 
to rest, for this too was what my uncle had told me to do. 
The next time the camp made a surround, I rode 
alone, and this time I did not do so well. It is true that I 
killed a cow, but also I shot another animal, which carried 
away three of my arrows. It was afterward killed by a 
man a long way off, and the next day he gave me back 
my arrows, which he had taken from the cow. I felt 
ashamed of this, but, nevertheless, I kept on, and before 
the hunt was over I killed many buffalo, and my mother 
dressed the hides. 



51 



In the Medicine Circle. 



Soon after I had killed my big buffalo, my uncle had 
sent for me and when I had gone to his lodge, he said, 
"Come with me" ; and we walked out on the prairie where 
his horses were feeding. He carried a rope in his hand, 
and, throwing it over the fast buffalo horse, that he had 
told me to ride when I first hunted buffalo, he put the 
rope in my hand, and said: "Son, I give you this horse; 
he is fast, and he is long-winded. You have seen that he 
can overtake buffalo. I tell you now that he is a good 
horse for war. If you ride him when you go on the war- 
path, you can get up close to your enemy, and strike him ; 
he will not be able to run away from you." 

This was the first horse I had, and I was proud to 
own it. Also, later, my uncle said to me, "My son, if you 
need horses for riding, catch some of those out of my 
band, and use them." This I did, sometimes. ^ly uncle 
had plenty of horses, and was always going to war and 
getting more. 

I was now a big boy, and began to think more and 
more about going to war. Ever since I had been little I 
had talked with my companions, and they with me, about 
the time when we should be big enough to do the things 
that our fathers and uncles did; and the thing that we 
most wished to do was to go to war against the enemy, 
and to do something brave, so that we should be looked 

53 



When Buffalo Ran. 
up to by the people. As we grew older the wish to do this 
increased. That summer, when the old men used to come 
out of their lodges, and sit in the sun, smoking, or to 
gather in little grouj)s, and gossip with one another, I 
used to listen to their talk of the things that had hap- 
pened in past years, when they were young. They told 
of many strange things that had happened; of war jour- j 
neys that they had made against their enemies, of fights 
that they had had, and horses that they had taken. They 
spoke, too, of treaties that they had made with other 
tribes ; and told how they had visited the camps of peo- 1 
pie who lived far off, whose names I had heard, but of 
whom I knew nothing. I 

Sometimes, too, I was present in my uncle's lodge 
when he gave a feast to friends ; and often among them 
were chiefs and older men, who in their day had done 
great tilings, and brought credit to the tribe. At such 
feasts, after all had eaten, and my uncle had filled the 
pipe, and pushed the tobacco board back under the bed, 
he gave the pipe to some young man, who lighted it and 
handed it back to him ; and then he smoked, holding the 
pipe to the skj^ and to the earth, and to the four direc- 
tions, and made a prayer to the spirits, and then passed 
the pipe along to the end of the circle on his left ; and, 
beginning there, each man smoked and made a prayer, m 
and the pipe passed from hand to hand. After this the 
guests talked and joked, and laughed, and stories were 
told, perhaps of war or adventure, perhaps of hard times 
when food was scarce and the cold bitter, perhaps of 

54 



In the Medicine Circle. 
those mysterious persons who rule the world, and of the 
kindly or the terrible things that they have done. 

I remember well one such feast, when for the first 
time my uncle told me to sit on his right hand, and be- 
hind him ; and when he had filled it, told me to light the 
pipe. I reached over to the fire, and with a tongs made 
of willow took up a small coal and lighted the pipe, and 
after it was going well, passed it to my uncle. And so I 
lighted all the pipes that were smoked that night. It was 
during the second of these pipes that an old man. Calf 
Robe, told a story of a thing that had happened in the 
tribe long ago, when he was a young man. He was a little 
man, thin and dried up, but in his time he had been a 
great warrior. Now he was old and poor, his left arm 
thin, withered and helpless, and on his side a great scar, 
much larger than my two hands, where people said his 
ribs on that side had all been torn away. I had heard of 
his adventures, how once the animals had taken pity on 
him, and brought him, after he was sorely wounded on a 
war journey, safe back to his people and his village. It 
was on this night that I first heard the story of the jNIedi- 
cine Circle. This was what he said : 

"It was winter. The people were camped on Lodgepole 
Creek near the Big Horn Mountains. Buffalo were close 
and small game plenty. The snow was deep, and the peo- 
ple did not watch their horses closely, for they thought 
no war parties would be out in such cold and in such deep 
snow. 

"The chief of this camp had strong mysterious power. 

55 



When Buffalo Ran. 
On the ground at the right of his bed in his lodge was 
alwaj^'s a space, where red painted wooden pegs were set 
in the ground in a circle. Above this hung the medicine 
bundles. No one was allowed to step or sit in this circle. 
No one might throw anything on the ground near it. No 
one might pass between it and the fire. It was sacred. 

"It was a very cold night. The wind blew the snow 
about so that one could hardly see. The chief had gone to 
a feast in a lodge near his own, and his wives were in bed, 
but one of them was still awake. The fire had burned 
down, and the lodge was almost dark. Suddenly the cur- 
tain of the doorway was thrown back. A person entered, 
passed around to the back of the lodge, and sat down in 
the medicine circle. 

" 'Now what is this?' the woman thought; 'why does 
this person sit in the medicine circle?' 

"She said to him: 'You know that is the medicine cir- 
cle. Quick! get up, and sit down somewhere else. INIy 
husband will be angry if he sees you there.' 

"The person did not speak nor move, so the woman 
got up and put grass on the fire, and when it made a light, 
she saw that the man was a stranger, for his clothing was 
different from ours; but she could not see his face; he 
kept it covered, all but his eyes. The woman went out and 
ran to the lodge where her husband was, and said to him ; 
'Come quickly! A stranger has entered our lodge. He 
is sitting in the medicine circle.' 

"The chief went to his lodge, and many with him — for 
chiefs and warriors had been feasting together — and 

56 



In the Medicine Circle. 
they carried in more wood and built a big fire. Then the 
stranger moved toward the fire, nearer and nearer, and 
they saw he was shaking with cold. His moccasins and 
leggings were torn and covered with ice, and his robe 
was thin and worn. 

"The chief was greatly troubled to see this person sit- 
ting in his medicine circle, and he asked him in signs, 
'Where did you come from?' 

"He made no answer. 

"Again he asked, 'Who are you?' 

"The stranger did not speak. He sat as close to the 
fire as he could get, still shivering with cold. 

"The chief told a woman to feed him; and she warmed 
some soup and meat over the fire, and set it before the 
stranger. Then he threw ofip his robe, and began to eat 
like a dog that is starved; and all the people sat and 
looked at him. He was a young man ; his face was good, 
and his hair very long; but he looked thin, and his 
clothes were poor. 

"The stranger ate all the soup and meat, and then he 
spoke, in signs: 'I came from the north. I was with a 
large party. We traveled south many days, and at last 
saw a big camp by a river. At night we went down to it, 
to take horses, but I got none, and my party rode off 
and left me. They told me to go with them and they 
would give me some of the horses that they had taken, 
but I was ashamed. I had taken no horses, and I could 
not go back to my people without counting a coup. So I 
came on alone, and it is now many days since I left my 

57 



When Buffalo Ran. 
party. I had used up all my arrows, and could kill no 
food. I began to starve. To-day I saw your camp. I 
thought to take some horses from you, but my arrows 
are gone ; I should have starved on the road. JNIy clothes 
are thin and torn; I should have frozen. So I made up 
my mind to come to your camp and be killed. 

" 'Come, I am read^^ Kill me ! I am a Blackf oot.' 

"A pipe was filled, lighted, and passed around. But 
the chief sat thinking. Everyone was waiting to hear 
what he would sajr. 

"At last he spoke : 'An enemy has come into our camp. 
The Blackfeet are our enemies. They kill us when they 
can. We kill them. This man came here to steal our 
horses, and he ought to be killed. But, you see, he has 
come into my lodge and sat down in the medicine circle. 
Perhaps his medicine led him to the place. He must have 
a powerful helper. 

" 'There are many lodges in this camp, and in each of 
these lodges many seats, but he has come to my lodge, 
and has sat down in my medicine circle. I believe my 
medicine helped him too. So now I am afraid to kill this 
man, for if I do, it may break my medicine. I have fin- 
ished.' 

"Everyone said the chief's talk was good. The chief 
turned to the Blackf oot and said : 'Do not be afraid ; we 
will not kill you. You are tired. Take off your leggings 
and moccasins, and lie down in that bed.' 

"The Blackfoot did as he was told, and as soon as he 
lay down he slept ; for he was very tired. 

58 



In the Medicine Circle. 

"Next morning, when he awoke, there by his bed were 
new leggings for him, and warm hair moccasins, and a 
new soft cow's robe; and he put these on, and his heart 
was glad. Then they ate, and the chief told him about the 
medicine circle, and why they had not killed him. 

"In the spring a party of our people went to war 
against the Crows and the Blackfoot went with them, 
and he took many horses. He went to war often, and soon 
had a big band of horses. He married two women of our 
tribe, and stayed with us. Sometimes they used to ask 
him if he would ever go back to his people, and he would 
saj'^ : 'Wait, I want to get more horses, and when I have a 
big band — a great many — I will take my lodge, and my 
women and children, and we will go north, and I will 
make peace between your tribe and the Blackfeet.' 

"One summer the people were running buffalo. They 
were making new lodges. One day the men went out to 
hunt. At sundown they came back, but the Blackfoot 
did not return. Next day the men went out to look for 
him, and they searched all over the country. ^Nlany days 
they hunted for the Blackfoot, but he was never seen 
again. Some said he had gone back to his people. Some 
said that a bear might have killed him, or he might have 
fallen from his horse and been killed, and some said that 
a war party must have killed him and taken the horse 
with them. Neither man nor horse was seen again." 



59 



Among Enemy Lodges, 



It was late in the winter, when I was fifteen years old, 
that I made my first trip to war. We were camped on a 
large river, and not far from our camp was a village of 
the Arapahoes. 

One day I went to visit their camp, taking with me 
only my buffalo robe and my bow and arrows. At the 
camp I found a number of young men of my tribe, and I 
went into the lodge where they were sitting, and sat down 
near the door. Soon after I had entered a young man of 
my tribe proposed that our young men should gamble 
against the young men of the Arapahoes, and when they 
had agreed, we all left the lodge where we were sitting, 
and went off to that owned by Shaved-head. I followed 
along after the others, and when I entered the lodge I 
found that they were making ready to gamble. The 
counters were lying between the lines, ten of the sticks 
lying side by side, and two lying across the ten. 

When all was ready, the leader of the Arapahoes 
threw down on the ground the bone they were to gamble 
with, and the leader of our young men threw down his 
bone, and then all the young men of both parties began 
to sing, and dance, and yell, each trying to bring luck to 
his side. Some of them danced all around the lodge, 
singing as hard as they could sing. After a time all sat 
down, and then one of the Arapahoes chose a man from 

61 



When Buffalo Ban. 
his side, and called him out and told him to sit down in 
front of his line. The leader took up the bone, and held 
it up to the sun, and to the four directions, praying that 
his side might win, and then handed it to this man, who 
let the robe fall back from liis shoulders, rose to his 
knees, and after rubbing his hands on the ground, began 
to pass the bone from one hand to the other. Then the 
leader of our party stood up, and looked over his men, 
to choose someone who was good at guessing. He chose a 
man, and called him out in front of the line, to guess in 
which hand the Arapahoe held the bone. Then every- 
body began to sing hard, and four young men pounded 
with sticks on a parfleche, in time to the music. Presently 
our man guessed and guessed right. Then our people 
chose a man to pass the bone for them, and when the 
Arapahoes guessed, they guessed wTong. So it kept on. 
The Arapahoes did not win one ^Doint, and our people 
won the game. Then the Arapahoes would play no more, 
and the gambling stopped. Afterward they had a dance. 
It was now night. I had heard the young men talking 
to one another, and I knew that they were about to start 
off to war. After the dance was over, one of them said to 
the others, "Come, let us go about the camp to-night, and 
sing wolf songs." They did so, and I went with them. 
Every little while they would stop in front of some lodge 
and sing; and perhaps the man who owned the lodge 
would fill a pipe, and hold it out to them, and all would 
smoke; or someone would hand out a bit of tobacco, or 
a few arrows, or five or six bullets, or some caps, or a 

C2 



Among Enemy Lodges. 
little powder. In this way they sang for a long time ; and 
then, when they were tired, they went to the different 
lodges and slept. 

The next morning I saw them making up the packs 
which they were to carry on their backs, and packing the 
dogs which they had with them to carry their moccasins. 
I watched them, and as I looked at them I wished that I, 
too, might go to war; and the more I thought about it 
the more I wished to go. At last I made up my mind that 
I would go. I had no food, and no extra moccasins, but I 
looked about the camp, and found some that had been 
thrown away, worn out; and I asked one kind-hearted 
woman to give me some moccasins, and she gave me 
three pairs. By this time the war party had started, and 
I followed them. 

The snow still lay deep on the ground; and as we 
marched along, one after another, each man stepjDcd in 
the tracks of the man before him. We traveled a long 
way, until we came to some hills, from which we could see 
a river ; and before we got down to the river's valley we 
stopped on a hill, and took off our packs, and looked 
about and rested. After a time someone said, "Well, let 
us go down to the river and camp." They all started 
down the hill, but I remained where I was, waiting to 
see what they would do. You see, I did not belong to 
Ihe party, and I did not know how the others felt to- 
ward me; so I was shy about doing anything; I wanted 
to wait and see what they did. 

When the others reached the level ground near the 

63 



When Buffalo Ran. 
stream they threw down their packs and began to go to 
work. Some of the men scraped away the snow from the 
ground where they were to sleep; others went off into 
the timber, and soon returned with loads of wood on 
their backs, and started fires ; others brought poles with 
which to build lodges ; others, bark from old cottonwood 
trees, and others, still, brush. Everyone worked hard. 

Presently I grew tired of sitting alone on the hill, and 
went down to the others. When I reached there, I found 
that they were building three war lodges, and as I drew 
near, all the young men began to call out to me, each 
one asking me to come over to him. I was the littlest fel- 
low in the party, and they all wanted me, thinking that 
I might bring them luck. When they called to me, they 
did not speak to me by mj^ name, but called me Bear 
Chief, the name of one of the greatest warriors of the 
tribe. They were joking with me, to tease me. 

When I was near the lodges I stopped, uncertain 
what to do, or where to go, and Gray Efyes, a man a little 
older than the others, walked up to me, and took me by 
the arm, saying: "Friend, come to our lodge. If you go 
to one of the others, the young men will be making fun 
of you all the time." I went to his lodge, and he told me 
to sit down near the door. This lodge was well built, 
warm and comfortable. They had taken many straight 
poles and set them up as the poles of a lodge are set up, 
but much closer together. Then the poles were covered 
with bark and brush, so as to keep out the wind; and 
within, all about the lodge, were good beds, with bark 

64 



Among Enemy Lodges. 
and brush under them, so as to keep those who were to 
sleep there from the snow. A good fire burned in the 
middle of the lodge. 

When I grew warm I began to wonder what we should 
have to eat. We had traveled all day, and I was hungry ; 
yet I had no food, and could see none, and there was 
nothing to cook with, not even a kettle. A man sitting by 
the fire seemed to know what was in my mind, and said 
to me, "Take courage, friend, soon you shall have plenty 
to eat." A little while after this, a man called out, saying, 
"If anyone has food to eat, let him get it out." When he 
said that, the young men began to open their packs. 
While they were doing this, someone cried, "The hunt- 
ers are coming" ; and when I looked I saw three or four 
men coming, each with an antelope on his back. When 
these men had come near to the camp, everyone rushed 
for them, and they threw their loads on the snow, and 
each man cut off meat for his lodge. Then they cut it into 
pieces and it was set up on green willow twigs, stuck in 
the ground near the fire, to roast. One of the men in our 
lodge said, "Let our young friend here be the first one 
to eat," and someone cut a piece of the short ribs of an 
antelope, and gave it to me. So we all ate, and were warm 
and comfortable. That night we slept well, lying with our 
feet to the fire, as people always lie in a war lodge. 

The next day we traveled on. Just before we camped 
at night I heard the sound of guns, and someone told 
me that the young men were killing buffalo. Soon after 
we had made camp, they began to come in, some carrying 

65 



When Buffalo Ran. 
loads of meat on their backs, and others dragging over 
the snow a big piece of buffalo hide, sewed up into a sack, 
and full of meat. Everyone was good-natured, and each 
young man was laughing and joking with his fellows, 
and sometimes playing tricks on them. That night a 
friend took a piece of buffalo hide and sewed it up, and 
partly dried it over the fire, and then turned it inside out, 
and stuffed it full of meat, and gave it to me, saying, 
"Here is a j)ack for you to carry." 

We traveled on for several days; but it was not long 
after this that the scouts came in, and told us that they 
had seen signs of people, a trail where a large camp had 
passed along only a few days before. When I heard this 
I was a little frightened, for I thought to myself, "Sup- 
pose we were to be attacked, how could I run away with 
this big pack on my back?" But I said nothing, and no 
one else seemed to be afraid; all were happy because 
there was a chance that we might meet enemies. They 
laughed and talked with one another, and said what a 
good time we should have if there should be a fight. 
Nevertheless, that night the leader told the young men 
to bring logs out of the timber, and pile them up around 
the war lodges, so that if we should be attacked we might 
fight behind breast works. Also, he told them that if we 
should be attacked we must not run out of the lodges, 
but must stay in them, where we could fight well, and be 
protected and safe. Also, he said, "Everyone must be 
watchful; it mav be that enemies are near; therefore. 



act accordingly.' 



66 



Among Enemy Lodges. 

The next morning the leader sent out two parties of 
scouts, to go in two directions to look for enemies. He 
told them where they should go, and where they should 
meet the main party, which was to keep on its way, trav- 
eling carefully, and out of sight. 

At night, after we had reached the appointed place, 
and had camped there, the scouts came in, and told us 
that they had found the enemy, and that their camp was 
not far off. When the leader learned that, he said, "It 
will be well for us to go to-night to the camp of these ene- 
mies, and try to take their horses." The distance was not 
great, and after we had eaten, all set out. When we had 
come near to the camp, we could see in some of the lodges 
the fires still burning, and knew that all the people had 
not gone to bed. In a low place we stopped, and there 
put down all our things. Here the leader told us what we 
must do, calling out by name certain men who should go 
into the camp, and certain other men, younger, who 
should go about through the hills and gather up loose 
horses, and drive them to the place where we had left 
our packs. My name he did not speak, and I did not 
know what to do. While I sat there, doubtful, all the 
others started off. Then I made up my mind that I, too, 
would go into the camp, and would try to do something, 
and I followed the others. After a little time I overtook 
them, and followed along, and as we went on and drew 
nearer and nearer to the camp, men kept turning off to 
one side, until presently, when we were quite near the 
camp, most of them had disappeared into the darkness ; 

67 



When Buffalo Ran. 
but I could still see some, walking along ahead of me. 
Presently we reached the outer circle of the lodges, and a 
moment or two after that I could see none of our people. 
I was walking alone among the lodges. Now I was 
afraid, for I did not know how to act, nor what I wanted 
to do, and I thought that perhaps one of the enemy 
might see me, and see that I did not belong to his tribe, 
and attack me and kill me. I held my head down, and 
walked straight along. Not many people were about, 
and no one passed me. Presently I came to a lodge in 
which a little fire was burning, and not very far away was 
another lodge, in which people were singing and drum- 
ming, as if for a dance. I stopped, and looked into the 
first lodge. The fire was low, but still it gave some light, 
and I could see plainly that no one was there. Then sud- 
denly it came to me that I would go into this lodge, and 
take something out of it, which should show to my 
friends that I, too, had been in the camp. I did not think 
much of the danger that someone might come in, but, 
stooping down, entered the lodge, and looked about. 
Hanging over the bed, at the back of the lodge, was a 
bow-case and quiver full of arrows. I stepped quickly 
across and took this down, and putting it under my robe, 
went out of the lodge, and walked back the way I had 
come. 

As I had entered the camp I had seen horses standing, 
tied in front of the lodges, and now, as I was going back, 
I stooped down in front of a lodge, where all was dark, 
cut loose a horse, and walked away, leading it by its 

68 



Among Enemy Lodges. 
rope. Xo one saw me, and when I had passed beyond the 
furthest lodge I mounted the horse and rode along 
slowly. After I had gone a little further, I went faster, 
and soon I was at the place where we had left our things. 
There were many horses there, brought in by the younger 
men that had been looking for loose horses, and some cut 
loose by those who had gone into camp. Every minute 
other men kept coming up, and presently all were there. 
The young men had filled their saddle-pads with grass, 
and now each one chose a good horse, and mounting it 
drove off the herd. I had only one horse, yet my heart was 
glad, for it was the first I had ever taken. 

For a time we rode slowly, but presently, faster; and 
when day had come we had gone a long way. The horses 
were still being driven in separate bunches, so that each 
man should know which were his — the ones he had taken ; 
but soon after day broke, and there had been time for 
each to look over his animals, they were bunched to- 
gether, and we went faster. Xevertheless, the leader 
said to us: "Friends, do not hurry the horses too much; 
they are poor, and we must not run them too hard. The 
horses on which the Crows will follow us are poor also, 
and they cannot overtake us." 

We rode fast until afternoon, when we came down 
into the valley of a river, and there stoj^ped to let our 
horses feed. Two young men with fresh horses were 
left behind, on top of the highest hills, to watch the trail, 
to see whether the enemy were following us. After we 
had been there for a time, and the horses had eaten, the 

69 



When Buffalo Ban. 
leader called out, "Friends, the enemy are pursuing; we 
must hurry on the horses." In a moment we had caught 
our animals, and mounted, and were driving on the herd ; 
for, far back, we could see the scouts who had been left 
behind coming toward us, riding fast, and making signs 
that people had been seen. After we had left the valley, 
and were among the hills, the leader left two other young 
men, on fresh horses, behind, to see whether the enemy 
crossed the river, and followed; while we went on with 
the horses. We rode all that night and part of the next 
day, and then stopped again ; and that night, in the mid- 
dle of the night, the scouts overtook us, and told us that 
the enemy had not crossed the river, where we had first 
slept, but had turned about there, and had gone back. 
"There were only a few of them," they said. "We two 
were almost tempted to attack them, but we had been 
told only to watch them, and we thought it better to do 
that." Four days afterward we reached our village. 

I had no saddle, and when I reached the camp I was 
very sore and stiff from riding so long without a saddle. 
Nevertheless, I was pleased, for I had taken a horse that 
was fast, long-winded and tough ; and I had taken also a 
fine bow and arrows, with an otter-skin case. The leader 
spoke to me, and told me that I had done well to go into 
this lodge. He said to me, "Friend, you have made a good 
beginning; I think that you will be a good warrior." 
Also, when we reached the village, my uncle praised me, 
and said that I had done well. He looked at the bow and 
the arrows, and told me that to have taken them was 

70 



Among Enemy Lodges. 
better than to have taken a good horse, and that he hoped 
that I would be able to use them in fighting with my 
enemies. Such was my first journey to war. 



71 



A Grown Man, 



That summer my uncle gave me a gun, and now I was 
beginning to feel that I was really a man, and I hunted 
constantly, and had good luck, killing deer and elk, and 
other game. 

One day the next year, with a friend, I was hunting 
a two days' journey from the camp. We had killed 
nothing until this day, when we got a deer, and toward 
evening stopped to cook and eat. The country was 
broken with many hills and ravines, and before we went 
down to the stream to build our fire I had looked from 
the top of a little hill, to see whether anything could be 
seen. My friend was building a fire to cook food, and I 
had gone down to the fire and spread my robe on the 
ground, and was lying on it, resting, while our horses 
were feeding near by, when suddenly I had a strange 
feeling. I seemed to feel that I was in great danger, and 
as if I must get away from this place. I was frightened. 
I felt there was danger ; that something bad was going to 
happen. I did not know what it was, nor why I felt so, 
but I was afraid. I seemed to turn to water inside of me. 
I had never felt so before. I sat up and looked about; 
nothing was to be seen. My friend was cutting some meat 
to cook over the little fire, and just beyond him tlie liorses 
were feeding. JNIy friend was singing to himself a little 
war song, as he worked. 

73 



When Buffalo Ran. 

My feelings grew worse instead of better. I stood up, 
took my gun, and walked toward a little hill not far from 
where we were, and my friend called out to me, "Where 
are you going? I thought you wished to rest." I said to 
him, "I will go to the top of that little hill, and look over 
it." When I got there I looked about; I could see 
nothing. It was early summer, and the grass was green. 
The soil was soft and sandy. For a long time I looked 
about in all directions, but could see nothing, but then I 
could not see far, for there were other little hills, nearly 
as high, close to me. 

Presently I looked at the ground a few steps before 
me, and I thought I saw where something had stepped. 
It was hard for me to make up my mind to walk to this 
place, but at length I did so. When I got there I saw 
where a horse had stood — a fresh horse track. Near it 
were two tracks made by a man, an enemy. I could see 
where he had stood, with one foot advanced before the 
other. When I saw these tracks I knew what had hap- 
pened ; an enemy had stood there looking over at us, and 
when he saw me with my gun start toward the top of the 
hill he had gone away. Standing where he had stood, I 
looked back toward our horses; I could hardly see their 
backs, but a man taller than I could have seen more of 
them, and the heads of the two men. I turned to follow 
the tracks a little way, and as I walked, it did not seem to 
me that my bones were stiff enough to supj)ort my body; 
I seemed to sway from side to side, and felt as if I should 
fall down. I was frightened. 



A Grown 31 an. 

I saw where the man had led his horse a Httle way 
back from the hill, and then had jumped on it and rid- 
den off as hard as he could gallop. A little further on was 
the place where another horse had stood; it, too, had 
turned and gone off fast ; its rider had not dismounted. 
One of the men had said to the other: "You wait here, 
and I will go up and take a look. If these people sleep 
here we will attack them when it is dark, and kill them 
and take their horses." 

I cannot tell you how much I wanted to run back to 
my friend and tell him what I had seen ; but I had cour- 
age enough to walk. I felt angiy at myself for being so 
frightened. I said to myself: "Come, you are a man; 
you belong to brave people; your uncle and your 
father did not fear things that they could not see. 
Be brave. Be strong." It was no use for me to say this; 
I was so frightened I could hardly control myself. I 
felt as if I must run away. 

I walked until I was close to my friend. He was cook- 
ing meat, and was still singing to himself. When I was 
pretty near to him I said, "Friend, put the saddle on your 
horse, and I will saddle mine, and we will go away from 
here." He turned and looked at me, and in a moment he 
had dropped the meat that he was cooking, and was sad- 
dling up. He told me the next day that my face had 
changed so that he hardly knew me ; my face was like that 
of one dead. I said to him, "Do you go ahead, and go 
fast, but do not gallojD." He started off without a word, 
and I followed him. It was now growing dark, but you 

75 



When Buffalo Ran. 
could still see a long way. As I rode I seemed to have 
three heads, I looked in so many different directions. 
We traveled fast. My courage did not come back to me. 
I was still miserable. 

About the middle of the night I said to my friend, 
"Let us stop here, so that the horses may eat." We 
stopped and took off our saddles, and held the ropes of 
our horses in our hands, and lay down on the ground to- 
gether, looking back over the trail that we had come. 
My friend's horse was eating, but mine stood with his 
head high, and his ears pricked, and kept looking back 
toward where we had come from. Every now and then 
he would snort, as if frightened. Sometimes he would 
take a bite or two of grass, and then would again stand 
with his head up, looking and snorting. This made me 
more afraid than ever ; and now my friend was as badly 
frightened as I. 

At last I could stand it no longer, and I said to him, 
"Let us turn off the trail, and go along a divide where no 
one is likely to follow us." We started, loping. After we 
had gone some distance we stopped, took off our bridles, 
and again lay down, looking back over the way we had 
come. The night was dark, but we could see a little, and 
we watched and listened. Still my horse would not eat, 
but kept looking back over the trail. Suddenly, my friend 
said, "There he is. Do you see?" I looked, and looked, but 
could see nothing. "Where is it?" said I. With my head 
close to the ground I looked in the direction in which 
he pointed, but could see nothing. JNIy friend saw it 

76 



A Grown Man. 
move, however. I said to him, "Here, let us change 
jDlaces ;" and I moved to his place, and he to mine. Then 
I looked, and in a moment I saw just in front of my face 
a weed-stalk, and when I moved my head the stalk 
moved. This was what he had seen. 

For the first time since this feeling had come over me 
in the afternoon I laughed, and with a rush ury courage 
came back to me. I felt as brave and cheerful as ever. 
All through the evening I had not wished to smoke, and 
if I had wished to, I should have been afraid to light my 
pipe. Now I filled my pipe, lighted it, and we smoked. 
When I laughed my friend's courage came back too. 
We laj^ down and slept, and the next day went on to the 
village. 



77 



A Sacrifice. 



During the next two years I went to war five times, 
always as a servant, but always I had good luck. This 
was because early, after my first trip to war, I had asked 
an old man, one of my relations, to teach me how to 
make a sacrifice which should be pleasing to those spirits 
who rule the world. 

It w^as in the early summer, when the grass was high 
and green, not yet turning brown, that, with this old man. 
Torn Lodge, I went out into the hills to suffer and to 
pray, to ask for help in my life, and that I might be 
blessed in all my warpaths. Torn Lodge had told me 
what I must do, and before the time came I had cut a 
pole, and brought it and a rope, and a bundle of sinew, 
and some small w^ooden pins near to the place where we 
were to go, and had hidden them in a ravine. 

It was before the sun had risen that we started out, 
and when we came to the hill where the things were, 
I carried them to the top of the hill, and there Torn 
Lodge and I dug a hole in the soil with our knives, 
and planted the pole, stamping the earth tightly about 
it, and then putting great stones on the earth, so that 
the pole should be held firmly. Then Torn Lodge tied 
the rope to the pole, and with sinew tied the pins to 
the rope, and then holding the pins and his knife up to 
the sun, and to the sky, and then placing them on the 

79 



When Buffalo Ban. 
earth, he prayed to all the spirits of the air, and of the 
earth, and of the waters, asking that this sacrifice that I 
was about to make should be blessed, and that I should 
have help in all my undertakings. Then he came and 
stood before me, and taking hold of the skin of my 
breast on the right side, he pinched it up and passed his 
knife through it, and then passed the pin through under 
the skin, and tied the end to the rope with another strand 
of sinew. In the same way he did on the left side of my 
breast. Then he told me that all through the day I should 
walk about this pole, always on the side of the pole 
toward which the sun was looking, and that I should 
throw myself back against the rope and should try to 
tear the pins from my skin. Then, telling me to pray 
constantly, to have a strong heart, and not to lose cour- 
age, he set out to return to the village. 

All through the long summer day I walked about the 
pole, praj'ing to all the spirits, and crying aloud to the 
sun and the earth, and all the animals and birds to help 
me. Each time when I came to the end of the rope I 
threw mj^self back against it, and pulled hard. The skin 
of my breast stretched out as wide as your hand, but it 
would not tear, and at last all my chest grew numb, so 
that it had no feeling in it ; and yet, little by little, as I 
threw my whole weight against the rope, the strips of 
skin stretched out longer and longer. All day long I 
walked in this way. The sun blazed down like fire. I had 
no food, and did not drink; for so I had been instructed. 
Toward night my mouth grew dry, and my neck sore; 

80 




"U O NOT GO; W A IT A LI T T L E L O N G K U" 



A Sacrifice. 
so that to swallow, or even to open my mouth in prayer 
hurt me. It seemed a long time before the sun got over- 
head and the pole cast but a small shadow ; but it seemed 
that the shadow of the pole grew long in the afternoon 
much more slowly than it had grown short in the 
morning. 

I was very tired, and my legs were shaking under me, 
when at last, as the sun hung low over the western hills, 
I saw someone coming. It was my friend, Torn Lodge ; 
and when he had come close to me, he spoke to me and 
said, "My son, have j'^ou been faithful all through the 
day?" I answered him, "Father, I have walked and 
prayed all day long, but I cannot tear out these pins." 
"You have done well," he said; and, drawing his knife, 
he came to me, and taking hold first of one pin and then 
of the other, he cut off the strips of skin which passed 
about the pins, and set me free. He held the strips of skin 
that he had cut off, toward the sky, and toward the four 
directions, and prayed, saying: "Listen! all 3^ou spirits 
of the air, and of the earth, and of the water ; and you, 
O earth! and you, O sun! This is the sacrifice that my 
son has made to you. You have heard how he cries to you 
for help. Hear his prayer." Then at the foot of the pole 
he scraped a little hole in the earth and placed the bits 
of skin there, and covered them up. Then he gave me to 
drink from a buffalo paunch waterskin that he had 
brought. 

"Xow, my son," said he, "you shall sleep here this 
night, and to-morrow morning, as the sun rises, leave this 

81 



When Buffalo Ran. 
hill, and everything on it, as it is, and return to the camp. 
It may be that during the night something will come to 
you, to tell you a thing. If you are spoken to in your 
sleep, remember carefully what is said to you." 

After he had gone I lay down, covering myself with 
my robe, and was soon asleep, for I was very tired. That 
night, while I slept, I dreamed that a wolf came to me, 
and spoke, saying: "My son, the spirits to whom you have 
cried all day long have heard your prayers, and have sent 
me to tell you that your cryings have not been in vain. 
Take courage, therefore, for you shall be fortunate so 
long as these wars last. You shall strike your enemies ; 
your name shall be called through the camp, and all your 
relations will be glad. 

"Look at me, and consider well mj^ ways. Remember 
that of all the animals, the wolves are the smartest. If 
they get hungry, they go out and kill a buffalo; they 
know what is going to happen; they are always able to 
take care of themselves. You shall be like the wolf; you 
shall be able to creep close to your enemies, and they shall 
not see you ; you shall be a great man for surprising peo- 
ple. In the bundle that you wear tied to your necklet, 
you shall carry a little wolf hair, and your quiver and 
your bow-case shall be made of the skin of a wolf." The 
wolf ceased speaking, yet for a time he sat there looking 
at me, and I at him ; but presently he yawned, and stood 
up on his feet, and trotted off a little way, and suddenly 
I could not see him. 

So then in these five times that I went to war, once I 

82 



A Sacrifice. 
counted the first coup of all on an enemy ; and three times 
I crept into camp and brought out horses, twice going 
with other men who went in to cut loose the horses, and 
once going in alone. For these things I came to be well 
thought of by the tribe. JNIy uncle praised me, and said 
that the time was coming when I would be a good war- 
rior. All my relations felt proud and glad that I had such 
good luck. 

I knew why all this had come to me. I had done as the 
w^olf had said, and often I went out from the camp — 
or perhaps I stopped when I was traveling far from the 
village — and went up on a hill, and, lighting a pipe, 
offered a smoke to the wolf, and asked him not to forget 
what he had said to me. 

I was now a grown man, and able to do all the things 
that young men do. I was a good hunter ; I had a herd 
of horses, and had been to war, and been well spoken 
of by the leaders w^hose w^ar parties I went with. I was old 
enough, too, to think about young girls, and to feel that 
some day I wanted to get married, and to have a lodge 
and home of my own. There were man}^ nice girls in the 
camp; many who were hard workers, modest, and very 
pretty. I liked many of them, but there was no one whom 
I liked so much as Standing Alone. I often saw her, but 
sometimes she would not look at me, and sometimes she 
looked, but when she saw me looking at her she looked 
down again; but sometimes she smiled a little as she 
looked down. It was long since we had played togetlier, 
but I thought that perhaps she had not forgotten the 

83 



When Buffalo Ran. 
time, so many years ago, when she pretended to be my 
wife, and when she had mourned over me once when I 
was killed by a buffalo. 

As I grew older I felt more and more that I wished to 
see and talk with her. Of course I was too young to be 
married yet, but I was not too young to want to talk 
with Standing Alone. I used to go out and stand by the 
trail where the women passed to get water, hoping that 
I might speak to her, but often there was no chance to 
do so. Sometimes she was with other girls, who laughed 
and joked about me, and asked whom I was waiting for. 
Thej^ could not tell who was standing there, for my robe 
or my sheet covered my whole body, except the hole 
through which I looked with one eye. But one day when 
Standing Alone was going by with some girls, one of 
them recognized the sheet that I had on, and called out 
my name, and said that she believed that I was waiting 
for Standing Alone. I was surprised that she should 
know me, and felt badly, but I did not move, and so I 
think neither she nor the girls with her knew that 
she had guessed right ; and the next time I went I wore 
a different sheet, and different moccasins and leggings. 

One evening I had good luck; all the women had 
passed, and Standing Alone had not appeared. I sup- 
posed that all had got their water, and was about to go 
away when she came hurrj^ing along the trail, and passed 
me and went to the water's edge. She filled her vessel 
and came back, and when she passed me again I took 
hold of her dress and pulled it, and dropped my sheet 

84 



A Sacrifice. 
from my head. She stopped and we stood there and 
talked for a little while. We were both of us afraid, we 
did not know of what, and had not much to say, but it 
was pleasant to be there talking to her, and looking at 
her face. Three times she started to go, but each time I 
said to her, "Do not go; wait a little longer"; and each 
time she waited. The fourth time she went away. After 
that, I think she knew me whenever I stood by the trail, 
and sometimes she was late in coming for water, and I 
had a chance to speak to her alone. 

In those days I was happy ; and often when the camp 
was resting, and there was nothing for me to do, I used 
to go out and sit on the top of a high hill, and think 
about Standing Alone, and hope that in the time to 
come I might have her for my wife, and that I might do 
great things in war, so that she would be proud of me; 
and might bring back many horses for her, so that she 
could always ride a good horse, and have a finely orna- 
mented saddle and saddle-cloth. If I could take horses 
enough, I should be rich, and then whatever Standing 
Alone might desire, I could give a horse for it. 



85 



\ 



A Warrior Ready to Die, 



It was not long after this that buffalo were found, 
and we began to kill them, as we used to do in the old 
times ; and then a great misfortune happened to me. 

One day I was chasing buffalo on a young horse, 
and as it ran down a steep hill, it stumbled among the 
stones, and fell down, rolling over, and I was thrown 
far; and, as I fell to the ground, my knee struck against 
a large stone. When I got up my leg was useless, and I 
could not walk, but I managed to catch my horse, and 
crawling on it I reached the camp. After a little my knee 
got better, and then again worse, and then better again. 
Still I could not walk, and for two years I stayed in 
the camp, crippled, and unable to go from place to place, 
except when I was helped on my horse. I grew thin and 
weak, and thought that I should die. 

iSIany of the young men of my age, my friends, were 
sorry for me. They used to come to my lodge and eat 
and talk, telling me the news. Sometimes, when I was sit- 
ting out in the shade of the lodge, looking over the camp, 
and feeling the pleasant breeze blow on my face, or the 
warm sun shine on my body, I saw the young men and 
boys walking about, and running, and wrestling, and 
kicking, and jumping on their horses and galloping off, 
and it made me feel badly to think that I could no longer 
do the things that I used to do ; could no longer hunt, and 

87 



When Buffalo Ran. 
help to supiDort my relations ; could no longer go off on 
the warpath with my fellows, to fight the enemy, or to 
take plunder from them. I was useless. 

Often during this time, older men — my uncle's friends 
— used to come to the lodge, and stop there and talk 
with me for a little time, to cheer me up, for I think they 
too felt sorry for me. The doctors tried hard to cure my 
leg, but though they did many things, and I and my 
uncle paid them many horses, and saddles and blankets, 
they could not help me. Once in a while, in the morning, 
after all the men had gone out to chase buffalo, or to hunt 
for smaller animals, deer or elk or antelope. Standing 
Alone would come to my mother's lodge, perhaps bring- 
ing some little present for her, and would sit and talk 
with her, and sometimes look at me, and I could see 
that her eyes were full of tears, and that she too felt 
sorry. Sometimes she spoke to me, but not often; but it 
always made me glad to see her, and made me feel more 
than ever that she had a good heart. 

At the end of two years I sent word to my uncle, 
asking him to come to see me ; and when he had come and 
sat down, I asked my mother and my sisters to leave the 
lodge, and when they had gone I spoke to my uncle. 
"Father, you have seen how it has been with me for two 
years; that I am no longer able to go about; that I am 
a cri23ple, lying here day after day, useless to my rela- 
tions, and very unhappy. Now, I have thought of this for 
a long time, and I have made up my mind what I shall 
do. It is time for me to go off with some of the young 

88 



A Warrior Ready to Die. 
men on the warpath, and when we meet the enemy, I 
will ride straight into the midst of them, and will strike 
one, and he shall kill me. I am no longer glad to live, 
and it will be well for me to die bravely." 

For a long time my uncle said nothing, but sat there 
looking at the ground. After he had thought, he raised 
his head and spoke to me, saying: "Son, you can remem- 
ber how it has been with us since you were a little boy. 
You have been my son, and I have loved you. I have 
been glad when you went to war, and glad when you re- 
turned with credit; yet I should not have mourned if 
you had been killed in battle, for that is the way a man 
ought to die. I have seen your sufferings now for two 
years, and I know how you feel. I think that it will be 
well for you to do as you have said, and for you to give 
your body to the enemy, and to be killed on the open 
prairie, where the birds and the beasts may feed on your 
flesh, and may scatter it over the plain. Xow, when you 
are ready to do this, tell me, so that I may see that you go 
to war as becomes a warrior who is about to die." 

It was not very long after this that a party of young 
men set out to war, all mounted, to go south to look 
for the Utes. Among them was the one who had been my 
close friend, and to him I had told what was in my mind ; 
and when I spoke to the leader of the party, he was glad 
to have me go with him, as were all of them. 

I told my uncle, and he gave me his best war horse 
to ride, and gave me also a sacred headdress that he wore, 
which had in it some of the feathers of the thunder 

89 



When Buffalo Ran. 
bird. I took with me no arms, except a stone axe that my 
father had had from his father, and he from his father, 
and which had come down in our family through many 
generations. 

The party started, and we traveled fast and far to the 
south. At first I was very weak, and got very tired 
during the long marches, but after a time I grew 
stronger, and could eat better, and felt better; but my 
leg was as bad as ever. 

We had been out many days and were still traveling 
south, east of the mountains, when, one day our scouts 
came upon the carcasses of buffalo that had been killed 
only a little time before, and the meat cut from the bones. 
From this we knew that enemies were close by, and we 
went carefully. Not far beyond these carcasses, as we 
rode up on a hill, we saw before us in the valley two per- 
sons butchering a buffalo, and as we watched them at 
their work, we could see that they were Utes — enemies. 
All the young men jumped on their horses, and we 
charged down on them. Before we were near them they 
had seen us, and had run to their horses, and jumped on 
them and ridden away. By this time I was far ahead 
of my friends, for my horse was the fastest of all ; and 
soon I was getting close to these enemies. They rode al- 
most side by side, but one a little ahead of the other. 

The one who was on the left and a little behind carried 
a bow and arrows, while the man on the right had a gun. 
I said to myself: "I will ride between these two persons, 
and the man with the bow will then have to shoot toward 

90 



A Warrior Ready to Die. 
his right hand, and will very likely miss me, while I may 
be able to knock him off his horse with my axe." I was 
not afraid, for I had made up my mind to die. 

Before long I had overtaken the Utes, and, riding be- 
tween them, made ready to strike them. The man with the 
arrows turned on his horse, and shot at me, but I bent to 
one side, and the arrow passed by without hitting me, 
and I struck him with my axe and knocked him off his 
horse. Then the man with the gun turned and was aiming 
at me, but when he pulled the trigger his gun snapped 
and did not go off. I was close to him and caught the 
barrel in my hand, and struck him with my axe, and 
knocked him off his horse. Then I rode on, holding his 
gun in my hand. Before the two men whom I had struck 
could get on their horses again, my friends had over- 
taken and killed them. 

We traveled on further, but found no more enemies, 
and at last we gave up, and returned to our village. 
All the time, as we were journeying about, and going 
back, I kept feeling better and better. I grew stronger 
slowly. The swelling on my knee began to go down, so 
that before we reached the village I could rest my weight 
on that foot a little. At last we arrived, and wlien we 
came in sight of the camp, we could see people looking 
from the lodges to see who were coming. 

As we rode down the hill to charge upon the village, 
the leader told me to ride far in front, "For," he said, "you 
are the bravest of all." When we came into the village tlie 
men and the women and the children came out to meet 

91 



When Buffalo Ran. 
us. All of them shouted out my name, and my heart grew 
big in my breast, for I felt that all the people thought 
that I had done well. Among the women who came out 
to meet us, I saw Standing Alone, running along by my 
mother, and both were singing a glad song. And when I 
saw this, I came near to crying. 

At last I reached my lodge, and before it stood my 
uncle ; and as I rode toward him he called out in a loud 
voice, and asked a certain man named Brave Wolf to 
come to his lodge and see his son who had given his body 
to the enemy, desiring to be killed, but who had done 
great things and had survived. And when Brave Wolf 
came to the lodge, my uncle gave to him the best horse 
that he had, a spotted war pony, handsome and long- 
winded and fleet. 

All that day I sat in the lodge and rested, and talked 
to my uncle. I told him about our journey to war, and 
while he did not say much I could see that his heart was 
glad. Before he got up to leave the lodge, he said to me, 
"Friend, you have done well ; I am glad to have such a 
son." This made me feel glad and proud — more proud, 
I think, than I felt when I heard the people shout out 
my name. I loved my uncle and it seemed good that I 
had done something that pleased him. 

All day long peojDle were coming to our lodge and 
talking about what had happened to us while on our 
journey. Those who came were my relations and friends, 
but, besides these, older men, good warriors, people to 
whose words all the tribe listened, came and sat and 

92 



A Warrior Beady to Die. 
talked with me for a little while. 3Iy mother and one or 
two of her relations were busy all day cooking food for 
the visitors. It was a happy time. 

The leader of our war party sent word to me that this 
night there would be a war dance over the scalps that had 
been taken. Although I could walk a little, I could not 
dance, yet I wished to go to the dance and watch the 
others. All through the afternoon boys and young men 
were bringing w^ood to a level place in the circle of the 
camp, and there they built what we call a "skunk," piling 
up long poles together in a shape somewhat like a lodge, 
so that when finished the "skunk" looked like a war 
lodge. 

Late in the night the people gathered near the "skunk," 
called together by the sound of the singing and the 
drumming. Leaning on a stick, I walked down there, 
and before long the "skunk" was lighted, and the mem- 
bers of our war party and the young women began to 
dance. Although I could not dance, my face was painted 
black like those of other men of the war party, and I 
sat there and watched the young people dance and saw 
the old men and women carry about the scalps. That 
was one of the last of the old-fashioned war dances that 
I ever saw held. 

The days went by, and before the birds had flown over 
on their way to the south, and the weather became cold, 
I could walk pretty well, and could ride easily. One day 
about this time a doctor whom I had given many pres- 
ents a year or two before to cure my sickness came to my 

93 



When Buffalo Ran. 
lodge and asked me if I did not think I ought to give 
him a present because he had cured me of the swollen 
knee that I had had so long. I said to him that I believed 
that not he but the Great Power, to whom I had prayed 
and to whom I had offered my body as a sacrifice, had 
cured me. The doctor said that this was a mistake; that 
really he had cured me, but that his power had not had 
time to work until after I had started on my warpath. 

I did not think that this was true, but I remembered 
'that this man possessed mysterious power, and I felt 
that j)erhaps it would not be wise to refuse what he asked. 
I told him I must have time to think about this, and that 
in seven days he should return and I would talk further 
with him about it. Not long after this I told my uncle 
what the doctor had said. At first he was angry and said 
that I would do well to refuse what had been asked of 
me, but after we had talked about it, he came to think as 
I thought, that perhaps it would be better to make the 
doctor a present, rather than to have his ill will, for 
it was possible that he might be able to harm us. My 
uncle, therefore, told me to give the doctor a certain 
horse, and a day or two after that he sent me the horse, 
to be put with my band and later to be given to the doc- 
tor. When he received the horse, the doctor was glad, 
and he told me that after this he would protect me in 
case any danger threatened me. 

The winter passed, the snow melted, the birds went 
north in spring, and the buffalo began to get poor. It 
seemed to me now that I was as strong and well as ever 

94 



A Warrior Ready to Die. 
I had been. I walked alike on both legs, and was as active 
as any of the young men. During this summer I joined 
one of the soldier societies of the tribe, and in this I 
followed the advice of my uncle, who had belonged to 
this same society. 



I 



95 



i 



A Lie That Came True. 



Soon after this something strange happened. 

I had a friend named Sun's Road. He was a httle 
younger than I, perhaps eighteen or twenty years old, 
big enough to have a sweetheart, and there was a girl 
in the camp that he wished to please. He had been more 
than once to war and had done well, but he wanted to 
do still better. He was eager to do great things, to 
make the people talk about him and say that he was brave 
and always lucky. Like most other young men, he 
wished to become a great man. 

Our camp w^as on the South Platte River, a big village 
of near two hundred lodges. All these had been made 
during the summer, and were new, white and clean. 
The camp looked nice, but now the buffalo had all gone 
away. None w^ere to be found and the people were hun- 
gry. They had eaten all the food they had saved and now 
they were eating their dogs, and most of these were al- 
ready gone. 

One day two boys, each the son of a chief, were out on 
the prairie hunting, and each killed an antelope and took 
it to his father's lodge. After these had been cooked the 
chiefs were called together to feast. There was not 
enough food to allow them to call any others except the 
chiefs. 

I heard of all this at the time, but it was a good deal 

97 



When Buffalo Ran. 
later that Sun's Road told me what he had done and what 
happened to him about this time. He did not wish me to 
tell anyone about it, but it is a long time ago and those 
who were important people at that time are now dead, 
so I think no harm can be done by telling of it. 

After these chiefs had eaten, they talked of the suf- 
fering of the people and tried to think what could be 
done to help them. After a time one of the chiefs came 
out of the lodge and walked through the camp crying 
aloud to the people, saying, "Listen, listen, you people; 
we will all stay in this camp." This he called out again 
and again as he walked around the circle, so that all 
might hear him. 

After a time Sun's Road heard his name called, and 
the old man shouted: "Sun's Road, Sun's Road; the 
chief wishes you to go to his lodge. He wishes you to go 
out to look for buffalo." 

Sun's Road went to the chief's lodge and when he had 
entered they told him where he should sit, by the door, 
and gave him a little piece of antelope meat to eat. 
After he had finished eating, the chief said to him: "We 
want you to-night to go across the river to the other side, 
and you shall go to where the pile of bones is, where we 
had the fight with the Pawnees. On the other side of that 
hill for a long distance the country is level. Look over 
that country and see if you can see any buffalo and 
come back and let us know what j^ou have seen. If you see 
no buffalo do not go farther; come back from there." 

The pile of bones was a breastwork of buffalo bones 

98 



> A Lie That Came True. 
built on the top of a very higli hill by some Pawnees wlio 
many years before had been surrounded there by men 
of our tribe. 

Sun's Road started on his journey. When he came to 
the river he took off his leggings and moccasins and 
evaded across. It was cold, for by this time it was late in 
the night. On the other side of the river he put on his leg- 
gings and moccasins again and walked on north, some- 
times walking, and sometimes trotting for a little way. 
After he had walked a long distance and it was beginning 
to get toward morning he felt tired and thought that he 
would rest for a little while. He looked about for a place 
to lie down, and found a little bunch of brush behind a 
small bank, and there unbelted his robe and lay down to 
sleep for a little while. He had not slept long when his 
feet became cold and this woke him, and when he raised 
his head he saw that day was beginning to break. He 
said to himself: "I must not stay here longer. I am out 
looking for buffalo for people who are starving. I must 
not lie here," so he rose and tied up his waist and 
started on. 

He walked on and on and at length he saw the high 
hill and on it the pile of bones. As he went on he came 
nearer and nearer, and he walked up the hill until he was 
close by the pile of bones. Then he stopped, for he was 
afraid. He was afraid that when he looked over the hill he 
would see nothing. He wanted to make a great man of 
himself, and to take back the news that he had seen buf- 
falo, so that the people would call his name and all would 

99 



When Buffalo Ran. 
say that Sun's Road was smart and was lucky. He was so 
afraid that he would see nothing when he looked over 
the hill that he stopped and stood there and thought. 
He said to himself: "If I shall not see anything and go 
back, they will all hear of it and my girl will hear of it. 
They will not think much of me. If I could only see 
plenty of buffalo, what a great man I should be!" 

He went on and when he came to the top of the hill 
and peeped over, there down below him he saw and 
counted thirty bulls and a calf. He looked at them and 
said, "Those are bulls; they are not much, but some- 
thing." He looked another way, and presently he saw one 
bull, and then two, and then others far off, scattered — 
in all five or six. He said again, "These are not many, 
but they will be some help to the people." A little to 
his right and down the hill a point of the bluff ran out 
a little way and this point hid a part of the country be- 
yond, and Sun's Road walked down there just a few 
steps to see what was over that way. When he got there 
he looked out into a very pretty, level basin with a stream 
running through it, and said to himself: "This is a 
pretty place, a good place for buffalo. There ought to be 
a great many of them here." 

At first he could see none, but he kept on looking and 
at last far off, just specks, he saw a few — a very few, 
perhaps ten or fifteen — cows. 

For a long time he stood there trying to think what he 
should tell the chiefs when he went back to the camp. He 
said to himself: "If I go back and tell them just what I 

100 



I 



A Lie That Came True. 
have seen it will be nothing to tell. Xow, I want people to 
think that I am a great man, and I am going to tell them 
a lie. Yes, I shall have to tell them a lie. I shall tell them 
that when I looked over the hill I saw those thirty bulls 
with one calf, but beyond I saw many buffalo — hun- 
dreds. I know it is a lie, but I shall have to tell it." Then 
he turned about and went back. 

He traveled fast, walking and trotting, and sometimes 
running, for he wished to reach the camp before night. It 
was late in the afternoon when he came to the river, 
waded across and reached the camp. He went into his 
father's lodge and sat down. His father was at work 
making a whetstone. He looked up at his son, and said, 
"Ha, you have returned," and he turned to his wife and 
said, "Give our son something to eat." His mother was 
cooking a little dog, the last one they had, and she gave 
Sun's Road a piece of it and he ate. Then he took off his 
moccasins, went over to his bed and lay down, covered 
himself, and went to sleep. He did not speak, and he 
made no report to the chiefs. Some children were playing 
in the lodge, and making a little noise, and his father 
spoke to them, saying, "Go out, you will wake my son; 
he is tired and has gone to sleep." Sun's Road slept only 
for a short time, for the lie that he was going to tell 
troubled him. Pretty soon he heard one of the old chiefs 
coming — old Double Head. He could hear him coming, 
coughing and groaning and clearing his throat, and 
he knew who. it was by the sound. The chief entered the 
lodge and sat down, and said to Sun's Road's father, 

101 



When Bujfalo Ban. 
"Has your son returned?" The father repHed, "Yes, he 
is asleep." He filled the pipe and Double Head smoked. 
Sun's Road lay still. In a few moments he heard another 
old man coming towards the lodge grunting. He knew 
who it was — White Cow. He came in, sat down, asked the 
same question that Double Head had asked, and smoked. 

White Cow called to Sun's Road, "Nephew, get up 
now and tell us M^hat you saw; we are starving." 

Sun's Road rolled over, pulled the robe from his head, 
raised himself on his elbow and said: "I went to the hill 
of the pile of bones, and on the other side of the hill 
right over beyond the bones I saw thirty bulls and a calf. 
Just beyond them, as I looked over, I saw many buffalo." 

The old men stood up and went out. Soon he heard 
them crying out through the camp so that all the people 
should hear: "Sun's Road has come in. On the other side 
of the pile of bones he saw thirty bulls and a calf, and 
just below this he saw many buffalo. Gather in your 
horses. Get them up. Women, sharpen your knives. 
Men, whet your arrow points. Tie up your horses, and 
early in the morning we will go after buffalo. The camp 
will stay here. All will go on horseback." 

Sun's Road was frightened when he heard this, but it 
was now too late to be sorry for what he had done. Next 
morning just at break of day, before it was light, all 
the people were out. The old crier was still shouting out, 
"Saddle your horses; make ready to start, men, women 
and all." 

Soon all were saddled, and they crossed the river and 

102 



A Lie That Came True. 
went on. The cliiefs rode first and even-one was behind 
them. No one rode ahead of them. They went pretty 
fast, for all were eager to get to the buffalo. 

Pretty soon they came in sight of the pile of bones. 
Sun's Road could hear the old chiefs talking and saying 
to each other, "There are the bones; soon we will be there 
at the buffalo." All the time he kept thinking of the lie 
that he had told, and remembering that there were only 
a few buffalo, while he had said that there were many. 
He did not know what he should do. 

When they reached the foot of the hill close to the 
bones, the chiefs stopped and everyone behind them 
stopped. All the chiefs got off their horses and sat down 
in a row and filled the pipe and began to smoke. Soon 
Sun's Road heard one of them call out: "Sun's Road, 
Sun's Road, go up to the pile of bones and see if you can 
see your buffalo now. Let us know if they are there." 
Then Sun's Road was still more frightened. When he 
first heard his name called, his heart seemed to stop and 
then it began to beat so fast that it almost choked him. 
He did not know what to do. He did not move. 

Soon old Standing Water, another chief, called out 
sharply, "Sun's Road, go to the pile of bones and see 
if you can see those buffalo ; come back and tell us what 
you see." 

Then Sun's Road started and rode up towards the 
pile of bones. Just as he did so a raven flew over him and 
began to call "Ca, Ca, Ca." He kept riding on, his heart 
beating fast, but as he rode he held up his hands to the 

103 



When Buffalo Ran. 
raven and prayed, "Ah, raven, take pity on me and 
fetch the buffalo." He held his hands up higher and 
prayed to the Great Power, "O He amma wihio, you 
are the one who made the buffalo ; take pity on me ; you 
know what I need." Then he rode up to the top of the 
hill. 

The moment his head got to where he could see over 
the hill, he looked and there he saw thirty bulls and the 
calf. They had hardly moved at all. Then he went on a 
step or two further, so that he could see beyond them, 
and the place that he had seen the day before was just 
full of buffalo. Again he held up his hands to the sky 
and said: "O raven, O He amma wihio, you have 
made my words true. The lie that I told you have made 
come true." 

He turned and rode down the hill towards the chiefs. 
Before he had reached them, one of them called to him 
to come right to the middle of the line where they were 
sitting, and when he had come near, they told him to get 
off his horse and lead it off to one side and then to come 
back to the middle of the line. They sent a young man to 
bring a buffalo chip and he brought one and put it down 
on the ground before the old chief Standing Water, 
and then went away. The chief placed it on the ground in 
front of him, about the length of his arm distant from his 
knees. Then he filled a pipe. Sun's Road still stood out 
in front of the line, in sight of all the people. He was still 
badly frightened, for he did not know what they were 

104. 



A Lie That Came True. 
going to do. He was young, and did not know tlie cere- 
monies. 

When the pipe was filled, the old chief lighted it and 
pointed the stem to the east, to the south, to the west and 
to the north, then up to the sky, and then down to the 
ground. Then he rested the bowl of the pipe on the buf- 
falo chip and said, "Sun's Road, come here." When he 
had come close, the chief said, "Take hold of this pipe 
and draw on it five times." The old man held the pipe, 
and so did Sun's Road, until he had drawn five times on 
the pipe. Then the chief said, "Now do you hold the 
pipe,"and Sun's Road held it while the old man took his 
hands away, and he said: "Sun's Road, pass your hands 
all down the stem and over the pipe, and then rub your 
hands over your face and head, and over your arms and 
body and legs. Then hand me the pipe." Sun's Road did 
as he was bade. Then the old man put his hand on the 
buffalo chip and said to Sun's Road, "Did you see 
bulls?" 

And Sun's Road answered, "I saw them." 

The old man pulled in the chip a little way toward 
himself. 

"Did you see cows?" 

"I saw them." 

The chief moved the chip a little further toward him- 
self. 

"Did you see two-year-olds?" 

"I saw them." 

105 



When Buffalo Ran. 

Standing Water moved the chip a little further toward 
himself. 

"Did you see yearlings?" 

"I saw them." 

"Did you see small calves?" 

"I saw them." 

After each answer the chip was moved nearer the 
chief, and when all the questions had been answered it 
was close to his body. Then Standing Water lifted up 
his hands toward the sky and thanked He amma wihio 
for all his goodness to the people. 

Standing Water cleaned out the pipe, emptied the 
ashes on the chip in four piles and left them there. He 
put his pipe in its sheath and said to the people: "Now, 
let none of you people go around toward the left and 
pass in front of this chip — between it and the camp. 
Back off and all go around behind it, on the side toward 
the buffalo. If you should pass in front of it that might 
make the buffalo all go away." All the people went 
around it, as they had been told to do. 

The chiefs mounted and all rode up on the ridge and 
all saw the buffalo. The chiefs said: "Now here we will 
divide into two parties ; let half go to the right and half 
to the left. The chiefs will go straight down from here. 
Let one party go around below the buffalo, and the other 
party on the upper side. When you get to your places 
let all make the charge at the same time." 

Sun's Road watched where his girl was riding, and 
when he saw that she went to the right he went that way 

106 



A Lie That Came True. 
too, and she saw him on his fine horse. They charged 
down on the buffalo and he rode close to a fat cow and 
killed it. 

The people killed plenty of buffalo and took much 
meat back to the camp and ate, and all were happy. 

A day or two afterward someone who was out saw 
the buffalo quite close and coming toward the river. 
They went out and chased them and again killed plenty. 
Two or three days later the buffalo began to come 
down to the river and then to cross the river and to feed 
in the hills about the camp. The people stayed in this 
camp for a long time and killed many buffalo and made 
plenty of robes. 



107 



My Marriage, 



The next summer I went with a party to war against 
the Mexicans. There were seventeen men, and two of 
them, Howhng Wolf and Red Dog, had taken their 
wives with them. We took many horses, and were coming 
back, when, while we were passing through the moun- 
tains, two of the young men who had been sent ahead as 
scouts came hurrying back and told us that they had been 
seen by a camp of enemies, and that many of them were 
coming. We had a little time, and perhaps if the leaders 
of the party had been willing to give up the horses we 
were driving and had told each man to catch his fastest 
horse, we might have run away, but the leaders did not 
like to leave the horses and determined to fight those 
who w^ere coming. Before long we saw them, Utes and 
IVIountain Apaches, a large party — too many for us to 
fight with. We started to run. 

Our horses were tired, and it was not long before our 
enemies began to overtake us and some of them to strike 
us with their whips, counting coups. Howling Wolf, a 
brave man, rode behind us all, trying to defend us, rid- 
ing back and forth fighting off the enemy and whipping 
up the slower horses. As we ran, partly surrounded by 
the enemy and all in confusion, the girtli on the saddle 
of Howling Wolf's wife broke and she fell off lier horse 
with the saddle, and was left behind and taken prisoner. 

109 



When Buffalo Ran. 
One of the Utes captured her and took her up behind 
him on his horse. 

After they had taken this prisoner the enemy 
stopped, and presently one of our men called out to 
Howling Wolf, saying, "Look, look, there is your wife! 
They have taken her prisoner!" Howling Wolf said, 
"Can that be?" and then as he looked he threw down his 
empty gun, calling out, "Someone pick up that gun." 
He drew his bow and strung it, and alone charged back 
on the man who had his wife. The Utes had gathered in 
a little group about this woman, and Howling Wolf 
rode straight for this crowd, shooting right and left with 
his arrows, when he got close to them. He ran against 
one man, and his horse knocked down horse and 
rider. He passed through the crowd up to the man who 
had his wife as prisoner, and shot an arrow through him, 
and then shot another man who tried to lead off the horse 
the woman was riding. A third ran up to take the bridle 
and he shot an arrow through his head. Then all the Utes 
made a rush at Howling Wolf and his wife. Their horses 
were separated, and the woman pushed off to one side. 
All the Utes were shooting at Howling Wolf, and he 
fought until all his arrows were gone, and then he was 
pushed off further, and rode to us. We never knew how 
many of the Utes were wounded. Howling Wolf was not 
hurt, but his horse was shot through the mane with an 
arrow. 

Long afterwards, we were told that the Utes said to 
this woman, "Who is that man who is doing all this fight- 

110 



My Marriage. 
ing?" She answered proudly, "That man is my husband." 
When she said that the Utes rushed upon her and shot 
her with arrows, so that she died. 

The enemy did not follow us further. They had killed 
two more of our men and this woman, and had cap- 
tured all the horses we were driving. Perhaps they were 
satisfied. 

For the last year I had been thinking a great deal 
about Standing Alone. I saw and spoke to her some- 
times, but in these later days not so often as when I had 
been younger and had not been so often going on the 
warpath against my enemies. Yet she knew how I felt 
and her family and my mother also knew how I felt. 
She was wearing a ring of horn that I had given her and 
I wore her ring. 

Three times in the last two years when I had come 
back from my war journeys wnth horses I had driven the 
horses to Two Bulls' lodge and left them there, and had 
sent him a message telling him that those horses were 
his. I had not given any present to Standing Alone. 

In summer of this year I spoke to my uncle and told 
him that I wished to send horses to Two Bulls, and to ask 
him to give me his daughter for my wife. ISIy uncle felt 
that this would be good and advised me to do it, saying 
that if I had not so many horses as I wished to send I 
should go to his band and take any that I liked. I told 
him that this need not be done for I, myself, could fur- 
nish the horses. Besides, my relations would give sucli 
other presents as might be needed. 

Ill 



When Buffalo Ran. 

So it happened that about the time the leaves of the 
cottonwoods began to turn yellow, my aunt, my mother's 
oldest sister, went to Two Bulls' lodge taking ten horses, 
which she tied before the lodge, and then, entering, gave 
the message, saying that Wikis wished Standing Alone 
for his wife. After she had said this, my aunt returned to 
her lodge. 

That night Two Bulls sent for his relations and told 
them what I had said. They counseled together and 
agreed that the young woman should be given to me. 
When I learned this my heart was stirred. 

The news came to my lodge through one of the women 
of Two Bulls' family, and my mother and sisters pre- 
pared our lodge for the coming of Standing Alone. 

It was about the middle of the day when they told me 
that she was coming. 

Standing Alone, finely dressed, was riding a handsome 
spotted horse led by one of her relations, ind other 
women were coming behind, leading other horses which 
bore loads. 

The horse ridden by Standing Alone was led up close 
to the lodge and my mother ran out to it. Standing Alone 
put her arms around my mother's neck and slipped out 
of the saddle on my mother's back. My sisters caught her 
feet and supported Standing Alone, who was thus car- 
ried on my mother's back into the lodge and her feet did 
not touch the ground. Then she was carried around to the 
back of the lodge where my sleeping place was and seated 
next to me on my bed. Presently food was prepared and 

112 



My Marriage. 
for the dish to be offered to Standing Alone my mother 
cut up the meat into small pieces, so that she should 
have no trouble in eating her food. Then Standing Alone 
and I ate together and so I took her for my wife. 

JNIany of the gifts that Two Bulls had sent with Stand- 
ing Alone were distributed among my relations. 

That day all my near relations came, bringing gifts 
of many sorts to us who were newly married. They 
brought us a lodge and much lodge furniture — robes and 
bedding, backrests, mats and dishes — all the things that 
people used in the life of the camp. Of these presents 
some were sent to the relations of Standing Alone and 
they in turn sent other presents to us, so that as husband 
and wife Standing Alone and I began our life well pro- 
vided with all that we needed. 

I did not again go to war that year, but spent much of 
my time hunting — providing food for my own family 
and often leaving meat at my father-in-law's lodge. 

Up to this time, as I look back on it to-day, it seems to 
me that life had been easy for me and for the tribe. We 
had many skins for robes, lodges and clothing. Food was 
plenty. If we needed horses we made journeys to war 
against our enemies to the south and took what we re- 
quired — but hard times were coming. 

It was but a few years after I took Standing Alone 
for my wife, when my oldest boy was four years old, that 
the wars were begun between the white people and my 
tribe. 

This was a hard time. It is true we killed many ^^•hite 

113 



When Buffalo Ran. 
people and captured much property, but though most 
of the tribe did not seem to see that it was so, my uncle 
and I felt that the Indians were being crowded out, 
pushed further and further away from where we had al- 
ways been — where we belonged. After each expedition 
through the country by white troops and after each 
fight that we had with the white men, we felt as if some 
great hand that was all around my tribe and all the other 
tribes, was closing a little tighter about us all, and that 
at last it would grasp us and squeeze us to death. 

Of that bad time and of what followed that time, I 
do not wish to speak, and so my story ends. 



114 



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